This elongated crescent-shaped scarf/shawl is knit from one short end to the other. Shaping is created using increases/decreases along the upper edge of the lace border. Beads are applied using the crochet-hook method. (The pattern requires a total of 416 size-6 seed beads if you choose to use beads). The pattern can be knit from one skein of 435-yard/100-gram fingering weight yarn, and while gauge is not crucial to this pattern, be aware that yarn substitutions may affect the overall gauge and size.

Suggested skills for this pattern include chart-reading, some basic understanding of lace patterning, knit, purl, M1 increases and K2tog decreases.

My inspiration for this shawl was the Countess Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary (1560-1614), who married into the Transvylanian aristocracy. The Countess, a well-educated, intelligent woman also had a cruel streak, and the tales of atrocities committed within the walls of the Bathory castle terrified locals. Legend has it that many of the Vlad the Impaler and other vampire tales that exist today are based at least in some part on the bloody rituals that went on inside the castle. Arrested finally in 1611 on a number of charges, she was convicted and spent the last 3 years of her life under house arrest. The locals refused to allow her body to be interred in the local cemetery, and she was finally laid to rest in her girlhood home’s family crypt.

This project is also available as a kit which includes the yarn and pattern (beads not included).