by Heatherly Walker

A ruffled shawl worked from the bottom up with an arched lace motif. Before the end of the shawl a series of short rows are worked to create a slight crescent which helps the shawl hug the shoulders. The bind off is a crocheted but gathered and twisted rather than just a traditional crochet bind off.

My daughter and I had recently begun reading James A Owen's Here There be Dragons from The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. indigodragonfly's Polwarth Silk DK yarn, chosen in person at the last Sock Summit, seemed to cry out to be used in a pattern inspired by the book's Indigo Dragon vessel. The Indigo Dragon is one of many ships in the Imaginarium Geographica that has a living dragon as part of the ship.

The captain of this magical vessel is the beautiful Aven. Aven sails the waters of the Archipelago, where she is friends with Captain Nemo and proven warrior in battle. Aven is a sea captain, heroine, mother and friend, showing you can have it all but you may have to battle giants and trolls along the way.

This shawl uses almost every bit of the generous 750 yards, to wrap you up when you wonder just what you have. The silk blended into the polwarth warms you to the very core, even on damp windy shores.

SIZE
One

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Length: 76 inches, Width 20 at deepest point inches (blocked lightly)

Notions
yarn needle

GAUGE
18 sts/24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch, after blocking

16 sts/28 rows = 4 inches in pattern stitch, after blocking

PATTERN NOTES
[Knitty's list of standard abbreviations and techniques can be found here.]

Instructions for basic crochet stitches can be found here.

M1p: Insert left needle, from front to back, under the horizontal strand which lies between the stitch just knit, and the following stitch; then purl into the back of this loop. 1 stitch increased.

Chart
The chart for this pattern is very large and fits on a letter-sized page.
Click here and print the resulting page.

DIRECTIONS

Next row [RS]: Work chart A across row, working 15 st (decreases to 12) repeat 26 times.

Work chart as set until all 28 rows are complete. 329 sts rem.

Next row [RS]: Work Chart B across, working 12-st repeat 26 times.

Work as set until 56 rows are complete – 2 full repeats of the 28 rows.

Following row [RS]: Knit.
Following row [WS]: K2, p to last 2 sts, k2.

Short rows:
Row 1 [RS]: K174, w&t.

Row 2 [WS]: P19, w&t.

Row 3 [RS]: K to wrapped st, work wrapped st together with its wrap, k19, w&t.

Row 4 [WS]: P to wrapped st, work wrapped st together with its wrap, p19, w&t.

Repeat Rows 3-4 7 times, until 14 sts remain unwrapped on either side.

Following row [RS]: Knit across, working wrapped st together with its wrap.

Following row [WS]: Purl across, working wrapped st together with its wrap.

BO loosely with J hook as follows: insert hook in first st on needle. Ch 2 [insert hook from rt to left thru 3 sts ( creates slight twist) pull a loop thru, yo, sc. Ch 1] repeat across.

FINISHING
Weave in all ends and lightly block carefully pinning the ruffled pleats.

Depending on the fiber content of your yarn, you can actually pin and steam the pleats to make them more dramatic.

Heatherly Walker lives in the magical land of Northern California with her amazing husband, who drives her through redwoods and to ocean coastlines as she knits in the car. She picks up her daughters' swords as often as their dolls. Her two sons want it to be very clear that they do not own dolls but ACTION figures.

Heatherly blogs here. Look for her upcoming book from Cooperative Press.