As I’ve blogged before, I have a friend who is getting married. As a happily divorced lady myself, I try to never, ever give advice on the subject of marriage. I feel I am very (oh-so-very) unqualified in the field of romantic relationships. So when my friend told me she was now officially engaged to her sweetie but didn’t want to set a date and refused to make any sort of actual wedding plans whatsoever, I smiled and kept my mouth shut. I did however, start knitting. I am a pretty qualified knitter and I decided I’d let my contribution to this event be in yarn rather than advice.

FYI, I’ve never gotten myself into trouble by keeping my mouth shut. Not once.

I knitted her a shawl, a wedding shawl. I’m calling it Something Blue.

Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue,
and a silver sixpence in her shoe.

The old, new, borrowed, and the sixpence will have to come from somewhere else (good luck on that sixpence). I’ve got the Blue covered. 

Something Blue is a shawl made in aran weight yarn. Its three triangular lace panels. The two front panels are adaptations of Marriage Lines, a traditional Dutch lace motif. The back panel is Holland Lace (aka Dutch Diamonds). I figured those two motifs were perfect for a bride.

Each panel is bordered by a 3-stitch strip of garter stitch.

The overall shaping is pretty simple; it grows by 6 stitches every Right Side Row. Then there is a little lace edging along the bottom followed by a picot bind off.

What You Need

Yarn: approximately 700 yards of aran weight yarn. I used a two-ply handspun made from a gorgeous Frabjous Fibers BFL Sparkle blend that’s been kicking around in my stash for a while.

Needle: US Size 10 (6mm) with a nice long cord. This shawl gets wide near the end.

And some stitch markers to make your life easier.

Stitch Key

• k – knit
• p – purl
• YO – Yarn Over (an increase)
• k2tog – knit next 2 stitches together (a decrease)
• ssk – slip 2 stitches knit-wise one at a time, insert left tip into the front of those slipped stitches, knit them together (a decrease)
• cdd – slip 2 stitches knit-wise together, knit the next stitch, pull the two slipped stitches over (a double decrease)

 

The pattern

Cast on 48 stitches. Knit 6 rows. On that last row you can set your stitch markers like…

k3, set marker, k15, set marker, k15, set marker, k15

Lace Panel Repeat

Row 1: k3, YO, k1, *k6, k2tog, YO, k2* repeat until 1 stitch before marker, k1, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k1, *k3, k2tog, YO, k1, YO, ssk, k2* repeat until 1 stitch before marker, k1, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k1, *k2, YO, ssk, k6* repeat until 1 stitch before marker, k1, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 2 and all other even numbered rows: k3, p to marker, k3, p to marker, k3, p to marker, k3

Row 3: k3, YO, k2, *k5, k2tog, YO, k3* repeat until 2 stitches before marker, k2, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k2, *k2, k2tog, YO, k3, YO, ssk, k1* repeat until 2 stitches before marker, k2, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k2, *k3, YO, ssk, k5* repeat until 2 stitches before marker, k2, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 5: k3, YO, k3, *k4, k2tog, YO, k4* repeat until 3 stitches before marker, k3, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k3, *k1, k2tog, YO, k5, YO, ssk* repeat until 3 stitches before marker, k3, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k3, *k4, YO, ssk, k4* repeat until 3 stitches before marker, k3, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 7: k3, YO, k4, *k3, k2tog, YO, k5* repeat until 4 stitches before marker, k4, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k4, *k1, k2tog, YO, k5, YO, ssk* repeat until 4 stitches before marker, k4, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k4, *k5, YO, ssk, k3* repeat until 4 stitches before marker, k4, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 9: k3, YO, k5, *k2, k2tog, YO, k6* repeat until 5 stitches before marker, k5, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k5, *k4, YO, cdd, YO, k3* repeat until 5 stitches before marker, k5, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k5, *k2, YO, ssk, k6* repeat until 5 stitches before marker, k5, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 11: k3, YO, k6, *k3, YO, ssk, k5* repeat until 6 stitches before marker, k6, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k6, *k3, k2tog, YO, k1, YO, ssk, k2* repeat until 6 stitches before marker, k6, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k6, *k5, k2tog, YO,k3* repeat until 6 stitches before marker, k6, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 13: k3, YO, k1, YO, ssk, k4, *k4, YO, ssk, k4* repeat until 7 stitches before marker, k4, ssk, YO, k1, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k4, YO, ssk, k1, *k2, k2tog, YO, k3, YO, ssk, k1* repeat until 7 stitches before marker, k2, k2tog, YO, k3, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k1, k2tog, YO, k4, *k4, k2tog, YO, k4* repeat until 7 stitches before marker, k4, k2tog, YO, k1, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 15: k3, YO, k3, YO, ssk, k3, *k5, YO, ssk, k3* repeat until 8 stitches before marker, k5, ssk, YO, k1, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k6, YO, ssk, *k1, k2tog, YO, k5, YO, ssk* repeat until 8 stitches before marker, k1, k2tog, YO, k5, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k1, k2tog, YO, k5, *k3, k2tog, YO, k5* repeat until 8 stitches before marker, k3, k2tog, YO, k3, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 17: k3, YO, k5, YO, ssk, k2, *k6, YO, ssk, k2* repeat until 9 stitches before marker, k6, ssk, YO, k1, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, k7, YO, ssk, *k1, k2tog, YO, k5, YO, ssk* repeat until 9 stitches before marker, k1, k2tog, YO, k6, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, k1, k2tog, YO, k6, *k2, k2tog, YO, k6* repeat until 9 stitches before marker, k2, k2tog, YO, k5, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Row 19: k3, YO, *k7, YO, ssk, k1* repeat to marker, YO, Slip Marker, k3, YO, *k4, YO, cdd, YO, k3* repeat to marker, YO,Slip Marker, k3, YO, *k1, k2tog, YO, k7* repeat to marker, YO,Slip Marker, k3

Don’t forget to work a Row 20.

---

Work Rows 1-20 four times. Then work Rows 1-10 once more. (A total of four and a half repeats). You should have 318 stitches.

Knit 2 rows.

Lace Edging

The motif in this section is worked on a 13 stitch repeat with a 3-stitch garter strip on each outside edge . You may find it useful to set stitch markers to keep track of the repeats.

Row 1: k3, *k1, YO, k4, cdd, k4, YO, k1* repeat until 3 stitches remain, k3

Row 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10: k3, *k1, p11, k1* repeat until 3 stitches remain, k3

Row 3: k3, *k2, YO, k3, cdd, k3, YO, k2* repeat until 3 stitches remain, k3

Row 5: k3, *k3, YO, k2, cdd, k2, YO, k3* repeat until 3 stitches remain, k3

Row 7: k3, *k4, YO, k1, cdd, k1, YO, k4* repeat until 3 stitches remain, k3

Row 9: k3, *k1, k2tog, YO, k2, YO, cdd, YO, k2, YO, ssk, k1* repeat until 3 stitches remain, k3

Don’t forget to work Row 10.

---

Prefer Charts? I sure do. If you open the chart image below “in a new tab” it should be larger, easier to read, and format so that you can print it out if you like.

or click this link

Bind Off

This is a mostly normal bind off with small picot points arranged to line up with the cdd stitches from the previous section. That is entirely optional. If you’d rather just be done with it all already (lol), just bind off! Otherwise:

Bind off 3 stitches. *Bind off 6 stitches, Slip the one stitch that is on your right needle back to the left needle. Cast on 3 new stitches (use the knitted cast on). Bind off those three new stitches. Bind off next seven stitches.* Repeat until 3 stitches remain. Bind off last 3.

---

Enjoy your Something Blue… or Something Green… or Purple… or whatever it ends up being. For the record I already gave this one to my bride-to-be. I told her I loved her and that I wished her all the best on her special day. I also told her that if she wanted to wear the shawl any day that ends with a Y and never get married I’d be okay with that too.

And after that I shut my mouth.