The Shepherdess is a crescent-shaped shawl worked in garter stitch stripes. It was originally designed to show off a long-striping yarn and the change of direction allows the shifting colours to play off against each other to great effect. The shawl is worked seamlessly in two parts: an asymmetric triangle, or boomerang, forms the first part; the second section uses simple short rows to form curves and create the crescent shape.

This pattern can be knit with any weight of yarn and to any size desired. You will need two contrasting yarns: one could be a long-striping yarn, gradient, or a set of mini skeins, and the other a contrasting solid. Different effects will be achieved with two solids or a solid and variegated, or handspun yarns. Playing with yarn combinations is part of the fun of this pattern! Depending on your yarn weight and preferred needle size for working in garter stitch, you will need at least 250m of each yarn, or more if you like a bigger shawl. If your yarn is limited it will be helpful to be able to weigh or otherwise calculate the halfway point of your yarns.

The knitting is simple, and the focus is very much on your chosen yarns. I hope you will enjoy the process as much as I have.