Anisah is a contemporary shawl featuring a textured cable and lace panel surrounded by classic garter stitch. The asymmetrical triangular shaping begins with just a few stitches which then flow into a wide panel composed of a graceful cable flanked by mesh lace. While that panel forms the left edge of the shawl, the remainder of the body is filled with squishy garter goodness. The combination of lace, cables, reverse stockinette and garter stitch knitted in worsted weight makes the texture of all the various design elements really pop.

I love to design shawls which are especially appropriate for social knitting. Anisah has no pattern repeats, has a simple 8-row chart repeat, and once you get past the early charts which set up the wide panel and body, you’ll have everything memorized in no time. I named the shawl Anisah—which is an Arabic name meaning “good friend”—as a nod to the wonderful friendships that result from knitters bonding over a shared love of our craft.

Anisah is also an excellent pattern for adventuresome beginners to try their hand at simple lace, cables and triangular shaping. Plus it’s a fun and fast knit for more experienced knitters looking for a relaxing TV knit. Worked in worsted weight, it knits up in no time even at the generous pattern size. So you still have time to knock one out for warm and snuggly holiday gifting this year!

The Anisah pattern includes both charts and full written out instructions for those of who you prefer not to use charts.

While dimensions and yardage are provided for worsted weight, Anisah could effectively be worked in other yarn weights, although sport weight or heavier is recommended to show off the texture to its best advantage. Also included are detailed blocking instructions.

SIZE AND YARDAGE: My lilac sample shawl pictured used about 540 yards (494 m) and measures 63 x 27” (160 x 69 cm) relaxed after blocking. Test knitted shawls used between 540-590 yards (494-540 m) on US Size 8 (5.0 mm) needles. Note that the US Size 10 (6.0 mm) is used for the bind off only. The size is easy to customize by changing the number of Chart 4 repeats; full instructions are provided, including how to calculate stitch counts for any size. The yellow green shawl (worked in Hazel Knits Cadence, “Sedge” colorway) and the deep aqua (worked in Hazel Knits Cadence, “Laguna” colorway) are slightly larger versions, both having 2 extra repeats of Chart 4 for a total of 28 repeats. Both of these versions used about 600 yards (549 m).

ERRATA: On the written instructions, page 8, Chart 5, Row 4, note that the it should read “…remove the marker as you come to it” and not “….come to i21t” as it reads in the 2022 revision.