Cynara is a top-down, half pi shawl designed with a variety of traditional lace patterns carefully chosen to evoke the life cycle of the thistle plants that thrived in my grandpa’s back yard in rural Maryland. The bottom edging was designed to resemble the plant’s extensive root system. Above that, the Victorian thistle leaf pattern depicts young thistle rosettes growing into mature plants. The open clove stitch in the middle section resembles seeds surrounded by the fuzzy white pappus. A single row of star motifs represents the feathery seeds blowing in the wind. The stockinette band adorned by staggered 3-into-3 star stitches represents the pappus bristles as they rest on the ground. The top open mesh band represents the seeds as they begin to put out little roots to start the process anew.

Directions are included for the 64 x 26” (163 x 66 cm) pattern size (pictured) as well as for a slightly larger version that will maximize your yarn usage without requiring an additional skein of most fingering/sock weight yarns. When blocking either size, you have the flexibility to adjust both the wingspan and depth to your liking, depending on whether you prefer an elongated or a true semicircle.

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

Solid or tonal yarn in fingering or sock weight is recommended in order to show off the design to its best advantage. The magenta shawl pictured and worked at the pattern size used just under 700 yards (640 m) of fingering weight yarn on a US 5 (3.75 mm) needle.Test knitters used between 650-700 yards (594-640 m) for the same size. The 68 x 28” (173 x 71 cm) size will use between 750-800 yards (686-732 m).

If you are a tight knitter, or if you are using a heavier weight sock yarn, you may wish to go up one needle size to a US Size 6 (4.00 mm) in order to achieve the lacy look of the sample shawl pictured.