Mirkwood Shawl by Maureen Foulds

Mirkwood Shawl

Knitting
May 2013
Fingering (14 wpi) ?
US 6 - 4.0 mm
475 - 490 yards (434 - 448 m)
approximately 55" across top, 36" down the spine, blocked
English
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The shawl begins with a garter stitch tab and is worked from the top down, with increases along the edge and spine. There are 2 motifs which form the body of the shawl and a knitted on edging. Because you are knitting on the edging, there is no need to bind off hundreds of stitches. Once the edge is complete, simple bind off 14 stitches and you’re done!

The pattern includes both charts and written instructions. The charts present both the right and wrong side stitches. Wrong side stitches are represented as they are meant to be knitted - no mental gymnastics remembering what the WS version of a symbol is.

There are 2 versions of the charts provided:
1) Both sides of the shawl shown on 1 chart. The chart is smaller to fit on the page, but shows the entire row across on 1 page.
2) Each chart is split into Right and Left sides of the shawl. The charts are bigger and easier to read.

Gauge:
Gauge is not critical for this project. However, be advised that as written it does come very close to using the complete 490 yard skein. Some samples had only 6-10 grams left of a 100 gram skein. If the yarn you are using isn’t a close match at 490 yards/100g it is recommended you purchase 2 skeins just in case. Or, consider a two color option. The edging on the samples used approximately 30 grams of yarn.

Skill Level: Advanced beginner
The pattern is mostly on the right side of the shawl. The wrong side is mostly purls with a few knit stitches. The pattern provides plenty of description of how the shawl is constructed, accompanied by diagrams. Additionally, the stitches that make up the shawl are fairly basic: knit, purl, k2tog, ssk, s1-k2tog-psso, and k3tog.

Materials:

  • 440-490 yards (402- 448m) of Sheepy Time Knits “All Your Base” 3 ply 100% superwash merino fingering weight yarn or similar (490yds/ per 3oz/100g skein),

  • US #6 (4.0 mm) knitting needles. If using circular needles, use a 24” (60 cm) cord or longer. Depending on how open you like your lace, you could use a needle one size smaller or larger, however this may change the amount of yarn required.

  • Tapestry needle