Cascade Yarns FW Trillium Shawl Crochet Pattern

Cascade Yarns FW Trillium Shawl: Crochet Lace Design

What Is Being Made

The Cascade Yarns FW Trillium Shawl is an intermediate-level crochet shawl designed by Elisabeth Davis de Herraiz. This garment is a crescent-shaped lace shawl worked from the top down in a flat construction. Pre-blocking measurements are 61 inches wide by 30 inches long, with finished measurements after blocking reaching 70 inches wide by 34½ inches long, making it an elegant wrap suitable for layering or draping.

Techniques Used

This shawl employs several advanced crochet techniques that create its distinctive appearance and structure:

• Top-down construction: The shawl begins at the crown with a magic loop foundation and expands outward through successive rows, allowing the crafter to try on and adjust sizing as work progresses.
• Seamless, worked-flat design: The entire piece is created in one continuous piece without seaming, worked back and forth in rows rather than in rounds, which simplifies the construction process for intermediate crocheters.
• Lace patterning: The design incorporates open spaces and decorative elements that create an airy, delicate appearance characteristic of lace shawls, allowing the yarn's color and drape to be showcased.
• Blocking: The finished shawl benefits significantly from wet or steam blocking, which opens up the lace pattern and increases the final dimensions by approximately 9 inches in width and 4½ inches in length.

Stitches Used

The Trillium Shawl utilizes a variety of fundamental and decorative crochet stitches to build its structure and visual interest:

• Chain stitch (ch): Used for foundation chains and creating open spaces throughout the pattern.
• Double crochet (dc): The primary structural stitch that forms the base of most rows and provides height and density to the fabric.
• Single crochet (sc): Used to create tighter, more defined areas within the lace pattern, particularly in the spaces created by puff stitch groups.
• Slip stitch (sl st): Employed to close the magic loop foundation and to complete picot embellishments.
• Puff stitch: A textured stitch created by working multiple yarn-overs and loops in a single stitch, then pulling through all loops at once. This stitch creates dimensional, puffy elements.
• Large Puff stitch: An enhanced version combining three puff stitches separated by chain-2 spaces, all worked into the same stitch location, creating a more pronounced three-dimensional cluster.
• Picot: A decorative edging element created by chaining 3 stitches and slipping into the 3rd chain from the hook, forming a small loop.

Materials and Tools

The Trillium Shawl is constructed using premium materials designed for drape and comfort:

• Yarn: Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima Fine Peruvian Tones, a 100% Pima cotton yarn. Three skeins are required, each containing 3.5 ounces (100 grams) and 273 yards (250 meters) of yardage. The sample shown uses colorway #13 (Malibu Blue), a cool-toned blue shade.
• Crochet hook: Size G–6 (4 mm) or the size needed to obtain proper gauge.
• Additional tools: A yarn needle for weaving in ends and a stitch marker for tracking the center stitch as the shawl expands.
• Gauge: 18 stitches by 4 rows equal 4 inches (10 centimeters) in double crochet unblocked; 7 rows equal 4 inches in pattern from top to tip unblocked. Achieving proper gauge is essential for obtaining the finished dimensions.

Pattern Structure and Design Details

The shawl begins with a magic loop foundation containing 7 double crochets separated by chain-1 spaces. The pattern then builds outward through strategic increases and the introduction of large puff stitch groups that serve as visual focal points. A center stitch is marked and moved up with each row, helping the crafter maintain pattern alignment as the shawl grows. The incorporation of chain spaces, p