Lana Grossa Shawl Wrap Knitting Pattern

Lana Grossa Shawl in Cool Wool Lace Hand Dyed

What Is Being Made

This is a triangular lace shawl worked from the top down in a seamless construction. The finished shawl measures 140 cm along the shortest diagonal edge, 360 cm along the longest edge or circumference, and 70 cm in length. The design features hand-dyed colorwork using two distinct colors that create visual interest throughout the piece.

Techniques Used

The shawl is constructed using several key knitting techniques that create both structure and visual appeal:

• Top-down construction: The shawl begins with a small cast-on and increases progressively outward, allowing the knitter to try on the piece and adjust the final size as desired
• Seamless knitting: Worked in the round on a circular needle without seaming, creating a continuous fabric
• Worked flat: Despite using a circular needle, the shawl is worked flat rather than in the round, taking advantage of the circular needle's length to accommodate increasing stitch counts
• Lace patterning: Incorporates yarn overs and strategic decreases to create openwork lace sections that add elegance and reduce weight
• Ruffle edging: The shawl concludes with a decorative ruffle created through strategic yarn overs and increases on right-side rows, adding a feminine finishing detail
• Hand-dyed colorwork: Two hand-dyed colors are worked sequentially, with color changes occurring as each dye lot is exhausted, creating natural color transitions

Stitches Used

The shawl employs a straightforward but effective stitch vocabulary:

• Stockinette stitch (St st): The primary stitch throughout, created by knitting on right-side rows and purling on wrong-side rows, providing a smooth, classic fabric base
• Yarn overs (yo): Used extensively to create the lace pattern and increase stitches, particularly in the ruffle section where yarn overs appear on every right-side row
• Two-stitch selvage: A neat edge finish worked by slipping stitches purlwise with yarn in back on right-side rows and yarn in front on wrong-side rows, creating a polished selvage edge
• Purl stitches: Used on all wrong-side rows and within the ruffle section to create texture and structure

Materials and Tools

The shawl requires specific materials to achieve the intended drape and finished dimensions:

• Yarn: Lana Grossa Cool Wool Lace, hand-dyed, 100% extrafine Merino wool with 800 meters per 100 grams. Two colors are used: 100 grams each of Kajol (color 805) and Diya (color 802)
• Needles: Size 3 mm circular needle, 120 cm long, which provides adequate length to accommodate the increasing stitch count as the shawl expands
• Notions: Five stitch markers to help track pattern repeats and construction sections
• Gauge: 34 stitches and 44 rows measure 10 x 10 centimeters in stockinette stitch on size 3 mm needles, a standard gauge for lace weight yarns that creates an open, airy fabric suitable for shawl construction

Construction Details

The shawl construction follows a logical progression from a small center to an expansive triangular shape. Beginning with a cast-on of 13 stitches, the knitter works in stockinette stitch with strategic yarn overs that increase the stitch count on every right-side row. The pattern continues until all 100 grams of the first color (Kajol, color 805) are used, then transitions to the second hand-dyed color (Diya, color 802) and continues the established pattern. The main body reaches 216 rows from the cast-on, at which point 877 stitches are on the needle. The shawl concludes with a decorative ruffle worked over multiple rows, with yarn overs placed strategically to create a ruffled edge. This ruffle section increases the stitch count further to 957 stitches, adding volume and movement to the finished piece. The two-stitch selvage maintained throughout ensures neat, finished edges that frame the lace pattern beautifully.