The Teresa Rose pattern is now forever free in honor of my wonderful mom, Teresa, who passed away recently. I had previously dedicated the shawl to her when I designed it 10 years ago. I’ve now decided to make the pattern free to be available to anyone who would like to make it, in order to help keep her memory alive. Mom always encouraged my crafty pursuits from a very young age--for example, finding the nice knitting and crochet ladies in the neighborhood to teach me those things that she couldn’t do herself but knew were important to me. If it wasn’t for her, I’d not be writing these words right now. When I think about how excited she got every single time I gave her the first look at a new design, well, sigh. So a big “thank you” to my dear mama for everything, and also to all of the moms out there who make life so much richer for their kids.

Teresa Rose is a richly textured, top-down triangular lace shawl with a modern, geometric pattern of twisted stitches that pop out in relief on a reverse stockinette background. Although the body pattern appears complex, it is very intuitive to knit and easy to memorize. A pretty lace edge adorns the top of the wingspan. A dramatic scalloped border with garter ridges atop centered double decreases complements the shawl body by adding textural interest.

While dimensions and yardage are provided for fingering weight, Teresa Rose could also be worked in heavier weight yarn for an even more textured look. The size is very easy to customize either by changing the number of Chart 2 repeats worked, by using a different yarn weight, or both. Teresa Rose is a great shawl to showcase your favorite subtly-variegated hand-dyed or tonal yarns, but it will also look fantastic knitted in solid colors.

The Teresa Rose pattern includes both charts and full written out instructions for those of you who prefer not to use charts.

Construction Notes: Teresa Rose starts with a provisional cast on at the center back of the neck. The lace edge, which adds a decorative touch at the top of the wingspan, is worked simultaneously with the body. A 2-stitch center spine separates each half. The entire shawl is worked in one piece down to the scalloped border, and then the lace edge is grafted together at the top of the neck. Patterning is worked on both right and wrong sides for the majority of the shawl.

Size and Yardage:

Pattern Size - Worked at the pattern size pictured here in aqua at 7 repeats of Chart 2, my sample used about 675 yards (617 m) of the Dragon Sock yarn (Mermaid colorway) on US 4 (3.5 mm) needles and measures 64 x 30” (163 x 76 cm).

For the orange kerchief size (pictured, the sample is knitted up in the Rustic Fingering, Gwynn Oak colorway) 4 repeats of Chart 2 will measure about 48 x 22” (122 x 56 cm) and use about 375 yards 343 m), so you could even knit this size with only one skein of sock yarn.

Information about other sizes is included in the pattern.