The base of this pattern was a lady’s scarf initially published in 1885 in ‘Gift-book of useful and ornamental knitting, netting and crochet’ by Miss Ronaldson. With alternative lace motifs from a range of other Victorian knitting books, I found during my research.
Miss Ronaldson identifies this scarf as a shetland scarf. Like many knitting manuals and books from this time, “Shetland” is often used as a description for a shawl or scarf with lace, which opens us up to what shetland lace is: is it the method of construction, the stitch pattern, or is it dependent on who its made by?

For simplicity in this pattern, I view Shetland lace as its construction methods and the stitches used to create the motifs, resulting in a unique and seamless finished object.
The original pattern needed more instructions on the gauge and the length of the lace panels and the overall scarf, with no illustrations in the book. I had to make my own decisions based on my preferences so that the finished scarf works for me, meaning the finished measurements provided are mere guidelines and can be adapted if desired. I also chose to make some alternative stitch motifs available as the critical feature for Shetland lace was that the knitter made their patterns, making no two items the same.
Adapting this pattern is part of my research into a more significant project on the inevitable historical inaccuracies of reproduction using historical patterns. And how do we recreate an item that wasn’t traditionally written down? But was passed down via spoken word in communities.

As this pattern was a part of my dissertation submission, it has yet to be adequately tested, and the yardage given is an estimation from my knitting. Still, this pattern aims to provide a range of motifs that can be used as wanted.