The Doubloon by Ann Weaver

The Doubloon

Knitting
November 2012
Lace ?
20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches
in Stockinette stitch
US 7 - 4.5 mm
2000 - 2100 yards (1829 - 1920 m)
One
English
This pattern is available for $6.00 USD
buy it now or visit pattern website

ERRATA FOR EARLY PRINT VERSIONS:
On page 6, under Ring 7, pattern should read:
Knit 1 rnd.
Work Rnds 1 and 2 of Chart A 13 times.
Work 36 rnds of Chart A … continue as written

… this round gold is but the image of the rounder globe, which, like a magician’s glass, to each and every man in turn but mirrors back his own mysterious self.
Melville, Moby-Dick, “The Doubloon”

Worked from the center outward, this circular shawl is my homage to the doubloon, a large gold coin, which Ahab nails to the mast of the Pequod as a reward for the man who kills Moby-Dick. The plain center of the pattern progresses to stylized saves, arrows, harpoon, and whale tails, capturing the doubloon’s symbolism and growing importance in the novel.

This shawl is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s recipe for creating a circular shawl by using pi. Rounds that rapidly increase are separated by a growing number of rounds worked with no increases, into which motifs based on coin ridges, waves, harpoons, and whale tails are incorporated.