Tununak Shawl by Donna Druchunas

Tununak Shawl

Knitting
March 2019
Fingering (14 wpi) ?
24 stitches and 32 rows = 4 inches
in St st
US 5 - 3.75 mm
1500 yards (1372 m)
54” (137cm) diameter/ wingspan, blocked
English
This pattern is available for $5.99 USD buy it now

This is the pattern for my 2019 Annual Pi Shawl KAL and an early preview of my Arctic Lace Collection which will be published as an ebook in 2020.
This KAL will begins on April 12th, 2019

April 12: Try different cast on techniques and make swatch

April 15: Cast on and begin border

April 21: Transition to main flower pattern

April 28: Inner mesh circles and finishing

Kits are available on Bluprint (formerly Craftsy). Or, buy the pattern here on Raverly and used your own yarns.

Tununak Shawl Kit includes pattern download and choose from 33 colors. You’ll get 4 skeins of Cloudborn Superwash Merino Fingering yarn. DM me your order number on Ravelry and I’ll add the pattern to your library so you get all the KAL updates.

This lacy, extremely delicate shawl was inspired by the patterning of a grass basket made by a Yup’ik artist in Tununak, Alaska. The bottom evokes flowers in a field, while the top is a gently threaded mesh. The sections are separated and finished off with garter stitch edges, leaving you with an intricate accessory that’s sure to wow.

The shawl is worked from the bottom up, the opposite of how most pi (or half-pi) shawls are worked because I loved this border and because I love working projects that get smaller and smaller so the knitting goes faster and faster. When you have knit 1/2 of the rows, you are 3/4 done with the project!

Everyone who purchases this pattern will receive updates with video links all through the KAL. If you buy the kit, DM me with your order number to have the pattern added to your Ravelry library.

The lace patterns I chose remind me of the patterning on a grass basket made by a Yup’ik artisan in Tununak Alaska, one of the villages featured in my book, Arctic Lace: Knitting Projects and Stories Inspired by Alaska’s Native Knitters. The bottom portion looks like flowers growing in a spring field, and the top portion is a simple mesh that is reminiscent of the woven basket pattern. Each section is separated by a few rounds of garter stitch, and the piece is finished off with garter stitch edges.

This is mathematically a half-pi shawl but because of the gauge of the different pattern stitches and the stretchiness of the fabric, it is blocked to more than a half-circle so it drapes beautifully and stays snugly on your shoulders when worn.