Furzeleigh Lane Shawlette by Terri Bate

Furzeleigh Lane Shawlette

Knitting
June 2012
Fingering (14 wpi) ?
US 8 - 5.0 mm
small; large (varies according to yardage and needle size)
English

If you have less than 420 yards of yarn use 4.5mm needles for a smaller size shawl.

Size:
Finished measurements (after blocking)
Large shawl: width (following inside curve approximately) = 68”/172cm and length at centre = 15½”/38cm
Small shawl: width = 60”/152cm length at centre = 13¾”/35cm approx.

I designed this pattern to be knit from side to side because I find conventional shawls, which start with a couple of stitches and end with huge multistitch rows which go on and on and on, to be psychologically all WRONG. Furzeleigh Lane is a steep hill in a Dartmoor town here in Devon, with a beautiful view looking out to the sea at the top.

This shawl is similar. It’s all uphill whilst you’re still enthusiastic – the rows are getting wider as you’re learning the lace pattern and getting in the rhythm of the knitting. When you reach the widest part, you can pause and admire the view as the worst is over and it’s all down hill from here! You’ve got the hang of the pattern and the rows get shorter and shorter as you get quicker and quicker – and it uses precisely one skein.

The ‘Fat Elsie’ lace edging is an amalgamation of a classic insert with faggoting and a traditional lace border called ‘Narrow Elsie’ – I added double yarn overs to bring the two together and renamed it ‘Fat Elsie’. I guess this is how all patterns evolve.