The Christmas Wonderland Shawl is a large, cosy shawl which is perfect for the winter season! Knitted in a Christmassy colour, this would make a perfect accessory for the festive period.

The shawl is worked flat and knitted top down. The subtle, textured patterns of reindeer, trees and a little country chapel are achieved with basic stitches- mostly knit and purl stitches, with simple lace eyelets for the falling snow, making it ideal as a beginner project.

Tension is quite important, so that the textured stitches are nicely prominent; a separate swatch pattern is provided too, so that knitters can check they like the appearance of the knitted fabric, and can adjust needle size if necessary before starting the shawl.

The pattern uses approximately 280 - 350 grams/550 - 680 metres of DK yarn in a solid colour.

Use whichever needle size you would normally use with DK yarn (3.75mm/4mm) and adjust if necessary once you have knitted the swatch.

The shawl gets wider as you knit it with every row - knitters start with a garter tab cast on (this is explained in the pattern) and the stitch count increases on each row, so that on the final row knitters will have over 400 stitches on their needles, so knitters may find it easiest to start the project on shorter, straight needles, and change to a longer circular needle when needed (testers found that a circular needle with a cable length of 100cm or 120cm was perfect).

The suggested gauge is 20 stitches/30 rows per 10cm stocking stitch square. If knitted at this tension, the finished shawl will measure approximately 165 cm wide, from tip to tip across the top of the shawl, and 65 cm tall along the central spine once blocked.
But knitters are encouraged to adjust the gauge to achieve a fabric they like, which shows the pattern well; this may result in a slightly larger or smaller shawl.

A very big thank you to all my wonderful testers: Agnes, Alison, Amanda, Amber, Anne, Carolyn, Chris, Claire, Darby, Doreen, Emma, Grace, Heather, Judith, Julie, Linda, Mary, Mel, Paula, Sheena and Sheena!

And a big kiss to my little Admin Fairy Helen for her formatting/general cleverness.