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Over my years of knitting and designing, I have knit dozens and dozens of shawls in all shapes: top-down triangular with a center spine (and variations on this); crescent shawls (deep and shallow); end-to-end; rectangles; kite-shaped; bottom-up and top-down.

The shape I return to over and over is the asymmetrical triangle that starts with a couple of stitches, has increases on one side, and ends at the base.

Sometimes this is described as being worked top-down, sometimes as being worked sideways. However the direction of knitting is described, I find this shape to be a versatile blank canvas for playing with stitch patterns.

I’ve put together what I know about this shape into a recipe book that will get you started designing your own shawls. It explains the basic asymmetrical shawl; how to start and shape it; different increases; how to include stitch patterns; fabric characteristics, and types of borders.

Any weight of yarn will work with the appropriate needle size, and the finished size of any shawl is up to you.

Thanks to Lisa for tech editing.

The photos at the left are examples of this shawl shape that I’ve designed with the links below here.

Devil’s Pocket
Greengage
Kensington Bricks and Lace
Ludlow
Martini Party Shawlette
Plenty Shawl
Insomnia Shawl
Olney
Linglestown Shawl