Valley Yarns Russian Sage Shawl Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Russian Sage Shawl

Project Overview

The Valley Yarns Russian Sage Shawl is a lace crescent shawl designed by Kirsten Hipsky. This knitted wrap features original budding branch shapes that swirl throughout the design, creating a breath-taking lace pattern. The shawl is worked seamlessly from the top down in a flat construction, making it an accessible project for beginner-level knitters seeking to explore lace techniques.

Finished Dimensions

When blocked to finished measurements, the Russian Sage Shawl measures approximately 15 inches wide and 56 inches long, creating an elegant crescent shape suitable for layering or draping.

Techniques and Construction

This shawl employs several key knitting techniques to achieve its distinctive aesthetic:

• Top-down construction: The shawl begins with a small cast-on of 9 stitches and expands outward through strategic increases
• Seamless, flat knitting: All pieces are worked in a single piece without seaming, maintaining continuity throughout
• Lace patterning: The design incorporates multiple charted lace motifs (Charts A, B, and C) that are worked simultaneously using stitch markers to delineate pattern sections
• Yarn-over increases: Decorative increases created with yarn-overs form the openwork characteristic of lace shawls
• Decrease stitches: The pattern employs k2tog (knit two together), k3tog (knit three together), and sl1-k2tog-psso (slip, knit two together, pass slipped stitch over) decreases to shape and define the lace motifs

Stitch Details

The Russian Sage Shawl utilizes a variety of fundamental and intermediate stitches to construct its lace patterns:

• Stockinette stitch: Forms the base fabric and gauge reference
• Garter stitch: Edge stitches (knit on all rows) frame the shawl borders for stability
• Yarn-overs (yo): Create the decorative openwork and lace holes throughout the design
• Knit two together (k2tog): Right-leaning decrease used in lace motifs
• Knit three together (k3tog): Double decrease creating more dramatic shaping in the branch patterns
• Slip, slip, knit (ssk): Left-leaning decrease used for balanced lace patterning
• Slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over (sl1-k2tog-psso): Double decrease used in Chart C sections
• Purl stitches: Worked on all wrong-side rows to maintain stockinette base

Materials and Gauge

The Russian Sage Shawl is designed to be worked with 1 skein of Valley Yarns Leyden yarn in color 02. This yarn contains 75% Superwash Merino Wool and 25% Nylon, providing durability and easy care. The skein yields 100 grams and 437 yards of yardage, sufficient for the completed shawl.

The project calls for US size 8 (5.00mm) needles or the size needed to achieve the specified gauge. The pattern is designed to work at a gauge of approximately 4.5 stitches per 1 inch in stockinette stitch.

Additional Notions

Beyond yarn and needles, the pattern requires 6 stitch markers to track the three charted pattern sections (Charts A, B, and C) as they are worked across the row simultaneously.

Pattern Progression

The shawl is constructed through 88 rows of charted lace patterns. Increases occur on every right-side row, expanding the stitch count from the initial 9 cast-on stitches to the final row before binding off. The pattern is worked by alternating between wrong-side rows (which are knit-purl-knit edge stitches with purl stitches between) and right-side rows that follow the char