Aug 10, 20182 min read

It Started with a Sketch: Chamomile Dreams

I once ran into this beautiful lace stitch pattern that reminded me of the petals on a flower. I knew I wanted to use that on a design someday and filed it away. Last February I happened upon two skeins of Primrose Yarn Co. Adelaide at the Jyvaskyla Knitfest Winter Market that just screamed to become a two-color shawl. It was snowy and cold as could be and flowers were the last thing on my mind. But when summer approached these two things just clicked. Chamomile Dreams was born.

Chamomile Dreams :: shawl knitting pattern

This shawl is my ode to those long, golden days of late summer that seem to go on forever and ever. Chamomile Dreams is Chamomile Dreams is an asymmetrical triangle-shaped shawl made of stockinette, eyelet rows, and lace. The lace pattern makes beautiful flower petals — with lots of yarnovers.

The stitch pattern is fairly simple — it is after all just yarnovers and decreases. But it does require a bit more concentration than usual: some pattern rows are worked on the wrong side of the shawl. I usually like to avoid this because I prefer the brainless quality of plain purl-back rows. Fear not: it's still really easy!

The original stitch pattern had K2togs and SSKs leaning into each other. I'm a sucker for symmetry and much prefer the centered double decrease (CDD) and use it everywhere I can. Since some of the pattern rows are worked on the wrong side, I had to come up with a way to do a CDD purlwise. It took a lot of swatching and playing around with different decreases but in the end I managed to produce a beautiful new decrease stitch. Just look at that crisp line of stitches!

The yarn I used for the sample, Primrose Yarn Co. Adelaide, is a lovely, drapey merino singles yarn that has that characteristic superwash merino sheen. Adelaide comes in hefty 400 m/115 g skeins. Most merino singles come in the 365 m/100 g put-up which is why I wrote the shawl pattern in two sizes: you can use two colors of any merino singles yarn (such as madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light) to make the small shawl.

If you use two colors of Adelaide or a 400 m/100 g sock yarn, you'll have enough yarn for the larger one. The only difference between the two sizes is the number of lace repeat in the border: three for the small, five for the large. The sample shawl shown in these photos is the large size.

In addition to two sizes, the shawl pattern comes with both written and charted instructions. The pattern also includes helpful blocking advice to get the chamomile lace open up beautifully and make that scalloped border.

Chamomile Dreams is now available on Ravelry. I'd love to see what you make so do share your project with the hashtags #talviknits and #chamomiledreams.

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