Alix Revisited

Last year I made a big, comfy Alix shawl (see my November 15, 2007, post). I love this shawl. I wear it all of the time. It's great with jeans and on those increasingly rare occasions when I wear dressy clothes. When I found some lovely Black Bunny Fibers laceweight left over from an earlier project it seemed that Alix was a good choice.

• Yarn: Black Bunny Fibers laceweight, approximately 60 grams (525 yards)
• Needles: US6/4mm
• Finished size: 28 inches center back

My red lace leaf maple is a good background, I think.

A Big, Comfy Shawl

Everyone needs a big, comfy shawl. My latest is the Alix shawl by Myrna Stahman by way of Debbie Macomber.

• Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot (superwash wool, mohair, nylon) in Lupine, 3 skeins (I had about 5 yards left)
• Needles: US7
• Finished size: 46 inches center back

The pattern as written finishes with a seed stitch border. I decided to finish with the Catharina border from Myrna's "Stahman's Shawls & Scarves." (Not an original idea; I had seen a version with this border.)

Both the Catharina and Alix shawls use Myrna's variation on the Smiling Diamonds pattern from Barbara Walker's first Treasury. Catharina is a Faroese-style shawl; Alix is a triangle shawl. Catharina was the one of the first shawls I ever made, so I was familiar with the edging. The only tricky bit was adjusting the attachments at the center point to center the bottom scallop.

What's nice about this shawl is that you can knit it in just about any yarn. I've seen it in the finest lace weight to much heavier yarns. I've seen it in solids and variegated yarns. It's easy enough for beginning lace knitters but interesting enough for veteran lace knitters.