Louet Stacey Wrap Knitting Pattern

Louet Stacey Euroflax Linen Knit Shawl

What is Being Made

The Louet Stacey is a beautiful lacy stole designed by Trudy Van Stralen, measuring approximately 22 inches wide by 84 inches long. This elegant wrap garment features the timeless Ostrich Plume lace pattern and is worked as a seamless, flat-knit design. The finished piece showcases the natural drape and soft hand of pure linen fiber, making it an ideal accessory for layering or wearing as a lightweight shawl.

Yarn and Materials

This pattern calls for Louet Stacey Euroflax 100% Wet Spun Linen in Fine/Sport Weight. The yarn is supplied in 100-gram skeins with approximately 270 yards (246 meters) per skein, and four skeins are required to complete the project. The natural linen fiber is prized for its elegant drape, soft wear, and moisture-absorbing properties, while remaining easy-care—simply machine wash, dry, and wear.

Needles and Tools

The pattern requires 4.5 mm straight needles for the main knitting and a 3.5 mm crochet hook for the finishing edging. With this particular design, exact gauge is not critical to success, allowing for flexibility in execution.

Techniques Used

This shawl employs several key knitting techniques to create its distinctive appearance:

• Lace knitting: The Ostrich Plume pattern creates openwork sections through strategic yarn overs and decreases, allowing light to pass through the fabric and enhancing the drape of the linen.
• Seamless construction: The piece is worked flat from a single cast-on edge, eliminating the need for seaming.
• Reverse single crochet edging: A finished edge is created using a 3.5 mm crochet hook, worked from left to right along the perimeter of the knit piece. This technique involves inserting the hook into each stitch, pulling up loops, and drawing them through to create a neat, polished border.

Stitches and Pattern Details

The Louet Stacey pattern utilizes fundamental knitting abbreviations and techniques:

• K (knit): Basic knit stitch
• YO (yarn over): Creates the openwork eyelets characteristic of lace patterns
• SSK (slip, slip, knit): A left-leaning decrease worked by slipping two stitches knitwise, then inserting the left needle into their fronts and knitting them together
• K2tog (knit 2 together): A right-leaning decrease that reduces stitch count
• P2SSO (pass 2 slipped stitches over): An advanced decrease technique used to create the dramatic shaping within the Ostrich Plume motif

The pattern is worked in repeating rows, with the Ostrich Plume design established over rows 1, 5, 9, and 13, creating a rhythmic, symmetrical lace structure. The piece begins with a cast-on of 99 stitches and two stockinette rows before the lace pattern commences.

Gauge and Finishing

The recommended gauge is 18 stitches and 20 rows over 4 inches in pattern. It is important to machine wash and dry a gauge swatch before measuring, as linen fiber behaves differently when wet and dried compared to unwashed yarn. This step ensures accurate finished dimensions. Once the main knitting is complete, the reverse single crochet edging is applied to all edges, and the yarn is secured by pulling the final loop through itself.