A full circular shawl is very pretty and impressive laid out flat in its full glory, but you only get half the effect when it’s worn.
Enter the half-circle shawl! You can wear this the same way you would a triangle or full circle, but all your knitting will be seen and appreciated. As an added bonus, the garter-based lace patterns used here are mostly reversible, and the fabric doesn’t curl.
This shawl evokes the tucked-away niches of green that you can find anywhere in New York City.
Finished Size
About 54″ (137 cm) across top edge and 24″ (61 cm) long from center of top edge to lower point. blocked.
Yarn
Laceweight (oo Lace).
SHOWN HERE: Sundara Yarn Silk Lace (100% silk; 1000 yd [914 m)/100 8): island breeze. 1 skein.
Needles
Size U.S. 4 (3.5 mm): 24″ (61 cm) cir needle and one double-pointed needle (dpn).
Adjust needle size, if necessary, to obtain the correct gauge; exact gauge is not critical for this project.
Notions
Tapestry needle; rustproof blocking pins.
Gauge
16 sts and 24 rows = (10 cm) in average gauge of lace patts, after blocking.
Notes
- The shawl begins in the center of the upper edge and is worked downward with increases to shape the half circle.
- The lace edging is worked perpendicular to the body of the shawl, joining one edging stitch together with one live shawl stitch at the end of every even-numbered edging row until all the shawl stitches have been consumed.
STITCH GUIDE
Roman Stripe
(worked on on even number of pott sts + 4 edge sts)
ROW 1: K2 (edge sts), *yo, ki; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2 (edge sts)—sts have inc’d to twice the original patt sts, plus 2 edge sts at each side.
ROW 2: K2, purl to last 2 sts, k2.
ROW 3: K2, *k2tog; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2—sts have dec’d to original number.
ROWS 4 AND 5: K2, *yo, k2tog; rep from to last 2 sts, k2.
ROWS 6 and 7: Knit. Rep Rows 1-7 for patt.
Madeira Mesh
(multiple of 6 sts + 7)
ROWS 1-6: K2, *yo, p3tog, yo, k3; rep from *, to last 5 sts, yo, p3tog, yo, k2.
ROWS 7-12: K2, *k3, yo. p3tog, yo; rep from • to last 5 sts, k5.
Rep Rows 1-12 for patt.
Double Fagotting
(multiple of 4 sts + 1)
ROW 1: (RS) K3, *yo, p3tog, yo, ki; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2.
ROW 2: (WS) K2, p2tog, yo, kl, *yo, p3tog, yo, ki; rep from * last 4 sts, yo, p2tog, k2.
Rep Rows 1 and 2 for patt.
Shawl
CO 8 sts. ROW 1: Knit.
ROW 2: K2, *yo, ki; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2-12 sts.
ROWS 3-5: Knit.
ROW 6: K2, *yo, ki; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2-20 sts.
ROWS 7-12: Knit.
ROW 13: K2, *yo, ki; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2-36 sts.
ROWS 14-25: Knit.
ROW 26: K2, *yo, ki; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2-68 sts.
ROWS 27-28: Knit.
ROWS 29-49: Work Rows 1-7 of Roman Stripe patt (see Stitch Guide) 3 times.
ROWS 50-51: Knit.
ROW 52: K2, *yo, ki; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2-132 sts.
ROWS 53-58: Knit.
ROW 59: K2, 1%.11 (see Glossary), knit to end-133 sts.
POWs 60-101: Work Rows 1-12 of Madeira Mesh patt (see Stitch Guide) 3 times, then work Rows 1-6 once more.
POW 102: K2, “yo, ki; rep from * to last 3 sts, k3-261 sts.
ROWS 103-142: Work Rows 1 and 2 of Double Fagotting patt (see Stitch Guide) 20 times.
ROWS 143-145: Knit.
Lace Edging
Turn the work so the end of the cir needle with working yarn is in your right hand. Use the backward-loop method (see Glossary) to CO 10 sts onto the end of the right needle-271 sts total; 261 live shawl sts, 10 edging sts. Turn the work so the end of the cir needle with the new CO sts is in your left hand and use the dpn instead of the other cir needle tip to work the edging as foil:
SETUP POW: K9, k2tog (last edging st tog with shawl st after it), turn work-10 edging sts; 1 shawl st joined.
ROW 1: K2, yo, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k2.
ROW 2: K3, yo, k2, yo, k4, k2tog (last edging st tog with next shawl st), turn work-12 edging sts; 1 shawl st joined.
POW 3: K2, yo, 100-13 edging sts.
POW 4: BO 3 sts st rem on right needle after last BO), k8, k2tog (last edging st tog with next shawl st), turn work-10 edging sts; 1 shawl st joined.
Pep Rows 1-4 (do not rep the setup row) 129 more times—lo edging sts rem; all shawl sts have been joined. BO rem sts.
Finishing
Weave in all loose ends. Soak shawl in a basin of water. To block, pin the top edge along a straight line to about 54″ (137 cm) wide.
Pin the center point straight down from the middle of the top edging to measure about 24″ (61 cm) long, then pin out the rem points on each side of center, forming a half-circle shape.