Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
~ Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 ~

“Darling Buds of May” is a circular shawl with an opening for the head, also known as a Mañanita. It sits like a lacy, exotic poncho. The design features a combination of traditional Shetland and Orenburg lace motifs. Since some parts are true knitted lace, patterned on every row, this is suitable for adventurous lace knitters. Don’t be frightened off, though - those sections are knit in the round entirely on the right side. The sawtooth border, worked sideways, is extremely easy.

The piece is worked in the round from the top down with a sideways knitted-on edging. The pattern is provided in both charted and written form.

Gauge is not absolutely critical. Yarn shown is Cherry Tree Hill Yarn Suri Lace in colorway “Purple Mist.”

Available singly or as part of the Mañanita Madness ebook.