This pattern is being offered for free between August 12 and September 12 to celebrate the book launch of Geri o Shimasu! The discount is available at checkout, so please add the pattern to your cart to get it for free FREE. Alternatively, you can find it at CryptoKnits.com.

This pattern was designed to celebrate the book launch of Geri o Shimasu by Crypto Knits designer Alia Luria. My pattern EGILDA WRAP is also available for free if you join my mailing list. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

ABOUT ORIGAMI SHAWL

Designed to celebrate the launch of my newly released memoir, Geri o Shimasu: Adventures of a Baka Gaijin, ORIGAMI is a rectangular shawl knit in an intricate Japanese lace pattern.

Origami, the delicate art of folding paper into intricate forms, reflects the beauty of transformation through restraint and discipline. A single sheet, untouched by scissors or glue, becomes a crane, a lotus, or a fox—simply by folding. Its quiet precision and poetic geometry speak to a reverence for simplicity and form. This pattern is inspired by Origami’s interplay of folds and structure, creating texture through repetition, symmetry, and surprise.

I named this shawl ORIGAMI, because I envisioned a garment that could be snapped and unsnapped along an edge allowing you to wear it securely multiple ways. I started with a rectangular shawl in a striking Japanese lace motif with a seed stitch edge. To that, I attached 6 sets of clear plastic snaps along the top edge. If you look through the images in this pattern as well as on Ravelry or my website, you will see the various ways that you can wear this shawl.

If you prefer not to have snaps, you can just seem small sections to allow the shawl to stay put and be folded over the neck. The schematic below highlights the dimensions of the shawl and roughly where I attached the snaps.

ABOUT ALIA LURIA

Alia Luria is an award-winning novelist and essayist living in Tampa, Florida, and she also happens to be ME, the designer behind the Crypto Knits patterns. She is the author of Compendium, a science fiction novel, and her new memoir, Geri o Shimasu, from Unsolicited Press has done the same. She has also been published in Northwest Review, Frivolous Comma, and contributed to multiple anthologies.

ABOUT GERI O SHIMASU: ADVENTURES OF A BAKA GAIJIN

Geri o Shimasu: Adventures of a Baka Gaijin invites readers on a witty, unfiltered romp through 2008 Japan as experienced by Alia Luria, a self-proclaimed “clueless foreigner.” Luria dives headfirst into the quirks and challenges of Japanese culture, from decoding onsen etiquette and enduring public embarrassment to exploring the oddities of love hotels and the loneliness of bustling crowds. With laugh-out-loud anecdotes and moments of poignant self-reflection, she unpacks the universal hilarity and humanity of navigating the unfamiliar. Whether she’s fumbling through train etiquette, braving bizarre foods, or embracing the messy beauty of cultural exchange, Luria’s candid storytelling is blunt, occasionally cringeworthy, and always unapologetically real. This collection is a hilarious and heartfelt reminder of the chaotic, awkward, and transformative adventures that shape us all.

DIMENSIONS

Width: 50” (127cm) long, folded in half
Height: 20” (50.8cm)
Neck opening: 23” (58.5cm)

YARN

850 yards (777 m) of fingering weight yarn at approximately 3.5 yards (3.1 m) per gram.

Sample was knit from 3 skeins of Dream in Color Pop-Up Club Smooshy Cashmere (70% superwash merino / 20% cashmere / %10 nylon) in the Kaleidascope Eyes color way. I just barely broke into the third skein.

NEEDLES

US 5 (3.75mm) circular needles with at least a 24” (61 cm) cable, or size required to obtain gauge

OPTIONS

Option stitch markers between lace repeats, tapestry needle for seaming, blocking materials, including wires for the best shaping

GAUGE

19 sts by 32 rows = 4” (10cm) in lace stitch after blocking
(gauge isn’t crucial for this project)

TECHNIQUES

Lace motifs
Knitting flat