The Hooded Bat was inspired by my daughter complaining that she could easily forget her hat in cold winter Caithness if she was in a hurry. I realised that adding a hood to a cowl,shawl or scarf would solve the problem. I wanted something textured so blocks of broken rib and stocking stitch seemed appropriate.

The construction of the hood using German short rows was a direct development of my work on heels for my sock designs. If offered a 90 degree bend with a pattern following the turn.

I have worked a light chunky version and an Aran version both suitd the stitch count and needle size, producing a couple of size variations that both still suited adult and teen wearers. In testing the pattern one of my knitters also tested a dk weight version for a young teen. all are possible and completely acceptable.

The brioche egde creating the batwing effect was the icing on the cake in terms of creating a fun mental stimulus to complete the shawl.

The prototype edge which combined stocking stitch with brioche panels was overly complex for minimal finished effect and was removed from the final version of the shawl.