Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima Fine Mixed Eyelet Shawl Knitting

Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima Fine Mixed Eyelet Shawl

What Is Being Made

The Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima Fine Mixed Eyelet Shawl is a sophisticated lace wrap designed by Nancy Rieck. This finished shawl measures 104 x 31 inches, making it an elegant accessory suitable for layering or draping. The design showcases multiple eyelet lace patterns worked seamlessly in one piece, creating an airy, refined garment that combines both visual interest and wearability.

Techniques Used

This shawl employs several advanced knitting techniques that contribute to its elegant appearance and structure:

• Bottom-up construction: The shawl is worked from the bottom edge upward, allowing knitters to try on the piece as it grows and adjust the final length if desired.
• Seamless, flat knitting: The entire design is worked flat on straight needles without seaming, creating a continuous, polished fabric with no interruptions in the lace pattern.
• Lace knitting: Multiple eyelet patterns are integrated throughout the design, using yarn overs and decreases to create decorative holes that define the shawl's aesthetic character.
• Picot cast-on: A special cast-on technique creates decorative picot edges, adding a refined finishing detail to the shawl's perimeter.

Stitches Used

The Mixed Eyelet Shawl incorporates three distinct lace stitch patterns, each contributing unique visual texture:

• Eyelet Rib: A multiples-of-8-plus-3-stitch pattern that combines knit-purl ribbing with yarn overs and decreases (sk2 technique). This pattern creates vertical lines of eyelets interspersed with textured ribbing, providing both structure and visual rhythm.
• Eyelet Diamond: A 13-stitch repeat pattern that forms diamond-shaped lace motifs across 22 rows. This complex pattern uses yarn overs, single decreases (k2tog, ssk, ssp, p2tog), and double yarn overs (yo2) to create dimensional diamond shapes with eyelet centers. The pattern includes the s2kp2 decrease technique for balanced shaping.
• Eyelet Mesh: A 6-stitch repeat pattern that produces an open, all-over mesh texture using yarn overs, k2tog decreases, and the s2kp2 centered double decrease. This pattern creates a delicate, lacy fabric with consistent openwork throughout.

All stitch patterns use standard abbreviations including yarn overs (yo), single decreases (ssk, k2tog, ssp, p2tog), and centered double decreases (s2kp2, sk2). Markers are used to delineate pattern repeats and maintain stitch accuracy throughout the construction.

Materials

The shawl requires 1224 yards of Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima Fine yarn, which equates to approximately 9 skeins. Ultra Pima Fine is a premium cotton yarn known for its lustrous finish, durability, and drape—ideal qualities for lace shawls that benefit from the yarn's ability to showcase stitch definition and block smoothly.

Needles: Size 4 U.S. (3.5 mm) straight or circular needles are used to achieve the correct gauge of 22 stitches and 30 rows over 4 inches in knit-one, purl-one ribbing before blocking. Knitters should adjust needle size if necessary to match this gauge, as proper gauge is essential for achieving the finished measurements.

Notions required: Stitch markers (for tracking pattern repeats and construction points) and a tapestry needle (for weaving in yarn ends and any finishing work). The pattern is provided as a free downloadable PDF, making it accessible for intermediate-level knitters seeking a sophisticated lace project.