I am fascinated by genealogy and have been working on my family tree for years. This inspired me to create a shawl that represents a pedigree chart. It begins with a single lace leaf, which splits into additional leaves that divide along lines - just like a genealogical family tree. The way the leaves split creates a ruffled effect in the shawl.

This pattern contains charted AND written instructions. If you can knit, purl, M1L, M1R, K2TOG, SKP, SK2P, and YO, then you can knit this shawl! It contains a lace leaf pattern, but it is not “true” lace because the wrong side of the shawl only contains knit and purl stitches. Stitch counts are included in the pattern on each RS row.

SPINCYCLE NOCTURNE VERSION = Gauge of 29 sts and 30 rows equals 4” (10cm) after blocking. The wingspan is 76” (1.93 m) and the depth is 26” (.66 m). It could be made slightly larger with more aggressive blocking. The model in my photos is 5’4” tall.

COLOR A: Evening Primrose (1 skein)
COLOR B: Brown Sugar (1 skein)
COLOR C: Flashback (2 skeins)
COLOR D: Thin Ice (2 skeins)

NOTE: The picot bind off requires a lot of yarn - about 15 times the final width of the project. If you are concerned about running out of yarn (or don’t want to use as much yarn), you can do a regular bind off instead. I have included a buffer in the yardage for the picot bind off. Some of my testers have used over six skeins of Spincycle, so you might want to buy an extra skein just to be safe!

To block my shawl, I soaked it in hot water with wool wash. By using hot water, it allows the wool to relax. I gently placed the shawl in the water without agitating and let it soak until the water cooled off. Then I drained the water and gently squeezed out most of the water (without wringing the shawl). I placed it in a towel and rolled it up, pressing down on the towel a few times. With the shawl still damp, I placed it on a blocking mat and pinned it into place. The way the leaves divide in the body of the shawl it creates a ruffled effect, so you will need to flip the edges to pin them (see second photo). Make sure to pin the tips of the picots along the edge so that they will be nice and pointy!

The version in the blocking photos was done with
JULIE ASSELIN LEIZU FINGERING = 277 gm (a little over two skeins) in the colorway “Hydrangees.” This was knit on a size 3 (3.25 mm) needle. After blocking, this version had a 52 in (1.32 m) wingspan and a 27 in (.69 m) depth.

This pattern was tech edited by Lisa Mazzitelli