Alyssa’s Shawl

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A free shawl pattern by SB&C

I’ve had a number of requests for the pattern I drew up to make Alyssa’s Shawl, so I thought I would put together my notes and pass on the pattern.

This is Alyssa’s original shawl bought to wear at her wedding.

The shawl was replicated for Alyssa’s daughter with just a few alterations, so I cannot claim to hold the copyright, however I would suggest that it would still be a breach to publish this pattern without contacting me first and it’s definitely NOT OK to sell copies of it. I like being able to give free patterns

Also – if you make a link to it – please let me know, and if you have ANY questions, please sing out.

But equally DEFINTELY, Send me a picture of your finished Article!

.~’***’~.

This Shawl is very simple, is a good introduction to Filet Crochet concepts and makes up relatively quickly.

If you are looking for a very simple but pretty shawl, this is IT.

Materials Required:

#8 Cotton 800m I used DMC’s Petra in an Ivory shade. Any yarn or thread could be substituted and you can adjust the size by using fewer repeats or more as required. 1.75mm Hook Or as required depending on your

yarn choice and personal gauge issues. And I always advocate using a size larger hook to do your foundation chain as it makes life easier on everyone.

If you use #5 cotton, you will need 640metres

8mm Seed Beads 20gms The beads are used in the fringing and so you will thread them on later. You need 15 beads per picot group.

Confectionary and/or Alcohol to taste.

Terminology:

Even though I am Australian, and thus supposedly use British Terminology, I find the US terminology makes more sense. So I use single, double, half-doubles and then trebles.

The stitches you will use are:

SL – Slip Stitch

CH – Chain

SC – Single Crochet

DC – Double Crochet

DTR – Double Treble Crochet – yarn over 3 times, insert hook in stitch, pull through, yarn over and work off loops on the hook in lots of 2.

Beaded Ch – from your prethreaded beads, slide one down to the working part of your yarn just above the previous chain, hook over the yarn above the bead and pull through as per a normal chain. The bead is “captured” in the chain.

Starting Off.

I was asked to make a shawl for a Little Girl who had a 31inch arm span.

This shawl is worked in repeats of 11 squares, in a four DC mesh.

That looks like this:

Each repeat is therefore 33 chains + 1.

So I made a chain of 31inches, then counted up in groups and rounded up to a multiple of 33.

For the Child size, I had 8 repeats

For an Adult, I would recommend 12.

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So for an Adult sized shawl, you need a chain of 436 plus 10 (for the points on either side and a turning chain).

In the 9^th chain from the hook, dc, and then DC in each the next three stitches. Chain 2, Skip next two chains, Dc in next stitch. Repeat (Chain 2, skip next 2, DC in next stitch) 9 times, then DC in Next 3 stitches.

Continue with: (10 repeats of *chain 2, skip next 2, DC in next*) and then DC in the next three stitches until the end of the row, so your initial rows look like this:

You should have 3 chains left over, and you place a DTR in the last chain, to give a nice “point” to your shawl.

Chain four, TURN

Skip first three DCs, DC in last DC, 2 DCs in chain 2 space, DC in DC, repeat * to * 9 times,

Then. 2 DCs in 2ch sp, Dc in next Dc

Follow this Filet Chart until you reach the point.

When you reach the point, it’s a chain 4, then DTR in the first DC of the last row.

That’s the Body of the Shawl done.

Now to make the edging.

First of all – take up a strand of thread (same colour/weight as you are using) that is the same length as the perimeter of the shawl. Lay this along the edge of your work and single crochet evenly over both layers all the way around.

This gives you a much more even tension on the edge and stops “frilling”.

Once you have finished the round, finish off.

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In top left corner, attach thread with a slip stitch and chain ten, skip two rows, single crochet into the edge, repeat all the way to the other side (i.e down to the point and back up).

Turn, chain 10, sc into the centre ch of each chain 10 loop around.

Turn, Repeat until mesh fringe is as wide as desired.

Finish off.

This is where you need the beads and a calculator.

Count up the number of chain loops you have.

Add 2 so you have nice corners at the shoulders.

This is the number of picot clusters you will be making.

Multipy by 15.

This is the number of beads you need.

When threading beads, if you don’t have a bead needle, then I heartily recommend nailpolish.

A couple of dabs on the end of the thread, allowed to dry, makes the thread SO much easier to slide the beads over.

Warning : Threading beads is a FRUSTRATING chore.

I also add a couple of extra beads as seed beads have been known to crack and break off when being crocheted with.

Armed with your bead snake, attached in the top Left corner, chain five, then into each next stitch for a chain of five, capture one bead,slip stitch into the fifth “plain” chain (i.e. the one before the first bead), *chain five beaded stitches, slip stitch back into previous stitch again*.

Repeat * to * once more to have three “petals” then chain five and single crochet in centre chain of previous chain 10 loop. Continue with chain 5, 3 beaded picots, chain 5 around to the other side.

Fringe finished!

Weave in all ends, block shawl by pinning it out so the DCs are “squared” and the picots are lightly stretched. I prefer a very hot spray bottle with a little lavender oil rather than a full immersion block.

Once dry, un-pin, throw it round your shoulders to admire how gorgeous you are!

(also: take photo, email to me!)