Knit
Glenna Harris
a shawl for Lady Mary with Downton Abbey Yarn
Knitters, do you have holiday knitting on
your mind, yet? I’m not just talking about
gift knitting, but knitting for yourself! Let's
take a closer look at the Lady Mary yarn
from the Downton Abbey Yarn Collection,
and this is something you might want to
keep for yourself if you're interested in a
bit of a sparkly treat just for you. Indulgent
knitting can lift your spirits!
The Budding Romance Shawl is a free
pattern designed with the Lady Mary yarn in
mind, and is a very pretty rectangular shawl
that would be just right for the holidays.
It would make a generous gift or a great
personal knit for yourself – I can just picture
wearing this with a little black dress to a party.
The shawl pattern uses a repeating lace
pattern which is shown below in a couple of
swatches in different colors. The Lady Mary
yarn comes in a number of different colors,
both brights and neutrals. It's amazing how
different the pattern can look when we
change only the color but everything else
stays the same!
If you've never tried a lace stitch before, this
will be a fun challenge for you. The main
trick with working a lace pattern is that you'll
be doing a combination of decreases as well
as yarnovers. To make a “yarnover” means
to bring your yarn forward to the front of
the needle, then work the next knitted stitch
or knitted decrease as indicated. It creates
the little eyelets that form the lace patterns,
along with those decreases. You can see
in the swatches just above and just below,
the decreases and yarnovers do sit in a
purposeful order, making a repeating pattern.
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KNITmuch | issue 1
When knitting up this shawl, these are the
skills you can expect to use:
• Cast on and bind off
• Work knit, purl, decreases, and yarnovers
• Follow a lace stitch pattern (written
instructions, not a chart)
• Work flat, back and forth (as opposed to
'in the round')
The nice thing about this kind of pattern is
that, once you have established the stitch
pattern after the first couple of repeats,
you get to continue working along in a
straight rectangular piece. Unlike a garment
or some other accessories, you can simply
knit to the indicated length of the pattern
without having to worry about stopping to
work decreases or increases for shaping the
item. This makes it easier to concentrate on
getting the stitch pattern right, rather than
the shape of the garment itself.
Can you see the sparkle coming from these
little swatches? The Lady Mary yarn has that
silvery touch from some metallic thread
that’s woven into the yarn, which is the
unique feature of this yarn line. As a result I
think it will be a great selection for holiday
projects or a number of simple accessories
that would make it easy to show off the
sparkle. You probably don’t want to tr y
cables or color-work with this kind of
yarn as the shiny quality would get a
little lost in the pattern.
There are so many project
possibilities, especially for
beautiful gift projects or gifts
to yourself! Indulgent knitting
can lift your spirits!