Introducing Montana

I'm thrilled to introduce my new pattern - Montana - a delicate, exquisite little shawlette with beatuiful lace and a beaded edging. The lace pattern has some patterning on wrong side rows, but it's not on every wrong side row so it's not too scary if you haven't tried true knitted lace (where both right and wrong side rows are patterned) before. Most of the wrong side rows are just plain purl.

I bought a little skein of Sexy from the Buffalo Wool Co at Ally Pally in London last year. Sexy is a blend of bison down and silk and is gorgeous. It is expensive but a tiny 50gr skein has 365m/400yds which is enough for a little shawlette.

I love the finished result and the shape of Montana. Montana is worked top down and is shaped by working increases along the edges and either side of a centre insertion. She shape makes the shawl sit really nicely on your shoulder. If you're unfamiliar with this shawl shape, take a look at my tutorial here.  If you want a larger shawl, then just keep repeating charts E and F until the shawl is nearly the size you want it to be, then knit the edging.

The edging has pretty, pale pink miracle beads which are added using a tiny crochet hook (my video demo). The yarn is pretty amazing too. When I saw it at Ally Pally, I just had to get a skein to try it out. I didn't really know what to do but knew I needed to make the most of the little skein so starting from the top down made sense.

Here are the vital statistics and details:

Materials:
The Buffalo Wool Co Sexy, 1 skein, 50gr/365m/400yds, (50% Bison Down/50% Silk)
3.75mm/US5 circular needles, 80cm long
176 4mm miracle beads
0.5mm crochet hook

Size:
Width: 142cm/56in
Depth Centre Back: 54cm/21½in

A big thank you to both Vanessa and Emily who modelled for me. I think they both look gorgeous. And a big thank you to Rachel Atkinson who did the tech editing.

You can purchase Montana on Ravelry here and it will be added to Patternfish too (I'll add a link when it's up and running). I'll have printed copies at shows this year too.

Happy knitting x