In yoga, a drishdi is a point of focus that helps you keep your balance when pushing your boundaries with a new pose. It’s a place of rest, of stillness amidst the chaos. It is the place where challenging becomes natural, where straining gives way to inner calm, the place where you find your center.

This pattern was born when I was moving between continents, beginning a new job in a new place full of strangers, and living apart from my husband for the first time. I wanted to knit a scarf as a goodbye gift for a friend I’d left behind, and that became my focal point - my drishdi - through those first weeks of chaos. The stitch pattern came to me in a chance encounter with a stranger, and combined with a beautiful yarn it became the perfect marriage of stitch pattern and yarn texture.

First in the Namaste series, Drishdi is knit using only k, yo, and k2tog stitches. The pattern is worked on both sides so that the lace is fully reversible, and the flexibility of the fabric means that you don’t really need to worry about gauge. The pattern has enough rhythm to keep you moving forward, but is simple enough to be a place of rest.

Drishdi came to me freely through the kindness of a stranger, and so I pass it on to you, for free. Namaste.