Be As Water is a lace weight circular ‘pi’ shawl worked from the center out. It is worked in concentric circles with a stockinette stitch ring between each ring of lace motifs. The first two lace rings use the Old Shale motif, said to be inspired by water ripples in the sand. The third and fifth lace rings use a stitch that represents the word “rain,” the return of water from sea to land. The fourth lace ring uses a Japanese stitch which is an interesting variation of the same concepts found in Old Shale, suggesting that like water, the ideas that are expressible within knitting stitches are similar around the world.

Materials Needed:

• 3 skeins (@ 1300 yards) Cascade Yarns® Alpaca Lace
• 3.25mm (US 3) circular needles or size needle needed for gauge
• stitch marker to mark start of round

Optional Materials:

• double pointed needles in same size as circular needles
• crochet hook for adding beads
• @1832 8/0 seed beads (bead counts are giving per chart in the instructions; knitters may choose to work some sections, no sections, or all sections with beads as indicated)

Gauge: 24 sts x 32 rounds = 10cm/4 inches in unblocked stocking stitch worked in the round
Note that I do not consider gauge to be crucial for lace knitting; it is better to achieve a fabric you like than to exactly match the pattern gauge. However, if your gauge is considerably looser, you will need proportionately more yarn to finish the pattern as written.

The motifs used in this pattern come from traditional Shetland lace, from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible translated by Gayle Roehm, and from the work of Naomi Parkhurst.

A note on yarn substitutions: if you would prefer to use fingering weight yarn, you will need approximately 500y extra yarn, 3.75mm (US size 5) needles, and your finished shawl will be @57” in diameter.

Be As Water is also available through the ebook Elements of Memory.