Swans Island Trilogy Wrap Knitting Pattern

Swans Island Trilogy Knitted Lace Shawl

What is Being Made

The Trilogy is a seamless, top-down knitted shawl designed by Stacey McCrear Warner. This intermediate-level project creates a triangular wrap measuring 23 inches in height and 72 inches in width when complete. The shawl is worked in three distinct color sections, each using a different shade from the Swans Island Ikat Collection, resulting in a sophisticated colorwork design without traditional stranded or intarsia techniques.

Knitting Techniques

This pattern employs several key knitting techniques to achieve its elegant construction:

• Top-down construction: The shawl begins with a small cast-on of just 3 stitches and expands outward through strategic increases, allowing the knitter to try on the piece as it grows and adjust the final size if desired.
• Seamless, worked flat: The entire shawl is worked on a single circular needle in flat rows, eliminating the need for seaming while maintaining the flexibility of circular needle work.
• Lace elements: Eyelet rows featuring yarn-over and knit-two-together decreases create decorative openwork throughout the design, adding visual interest and reducing weight in the finished fabric.
• Garter stitch foundation: The piece begins with 6 rows of garter stitch (knitting every row) before transitioning into the main lace pattern, providing a stable edge.
• Purl ridge accents: Alternating purl ridge rows create subtle textural variation and help define the three color sections of the shawl.

Stitches Used

The Trilogy incorporates fundamental knitting stitches executed with precision:

• Knit stitch (k): The primary stitch forming the base fabric and garter stitch sections.
• Purl stitch (p): Used in purl ridge rows and wrong-side rows to create texture and definition.
• Yarn over (yo): Creates the decorative eyelets and contributes to the lace pattern while increasing stitch count.
• Knit two together (k2tog): A right-leaning decrease paired with yarn overs to form the eyelet lace motif.
• Slip stitch (sl): Used to move stitches past markers without working them, maintaining stitch marker placement.
• Garter stitch (Gtr st): Knitting all stitches on every row creates the ridged texture at the shawl's beginning and contributes to the purl ridge rows.

Materials and Specifications

The Trilogy is designed to showcase the qualities of premium yarn:

• Yarn: One skein each of Swans Island Ikat Collection in three colorways—Firefly (Color A, IFF203), Prussian Blue (Color B, IFF202), and Sapphire (Color C, IFF201). Each skein contains 100 grams and 525 yards of 100% Organic Merino Wool in fingering weight, providing approximately 1,575 total yards for the completed shawl.
• Needles: US size 5 (3.75mm) circular needle, 29 inches or longer, to accommodate the expanding stitch count as the shawl grows from 9 stitches to 467 stitches.
• Notions: Stitch markers to track the center stitch and pattern repeats, and a yarn needle for weaving in ends.
• Gauge: 6.5 stitches and 9 rows equal 1 inch in stockinette stitch, making accurate gauge checking essential for achieving the intended finished dimensions.

Pattern Progression and Color Work

The shawl is constructed in three distinct phases, each introducing a new color while maintaining the same increase and lace pattern structure. The first color section (Firefly) establishes the foundational pattern with eyelet and purl ridge rows. The second section (Prussian Blue) continues the expansion through 20 repeats of the core increase rows. The final section (Sapphire) completes the shawl with 16 repeats, bringing the total stitch count to 467 stitches. This three-color progression creates visual depth and interest without requiring complex colorwork techniques.

Finishing

Once the l