Ipanema is a top-down, crescent-shaped shawl worked in two colors of DK weight yarn. This contemporary design features a border of bold stripes of geometric horseshoe lace nestled in between graceful waves of garter ridges. The centered double decreases of the lace pattern add a contrasting vertical design element. And the wingspan tips will fall into pretty curls if you block to the recommended shape. The end result is a versatile shawl with beautiful, clean lines and loads of texture that is easy to wear and relaxing to knit.

Ipanema is a wonderful shawl for newer knitters, since there is just enough easy lace to be interesting but not so much to overwhelm! And so I’ve included detailed descriptions and video links that will guide adventurous beginners through all the techniques and stitches required to knit this shawl.

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

I choose the pattern size because it’s right in the middle between a large and small shawl, a perfect size to wrap around your neck, your shoulders or back. The size is very easy to customize either larger or smaller by adjusting the garter body prior to beginning the border. Full details are provided, including how to recalculate stitch counts, and size/yardage estimates.

Ipanema is also a great stash buster to use up any partial skeins of DK weight you have on hand. The 3 lace stripes use less than 180 yards (165 m) of DK weight. And if you use a different color for every stripe, that uses even less yarn stripe color, so you can bust even more stash!

Construction: Ipanema starts at the center back of the neck and is worked down to the bottom edge. I used a special long garter tab with a little something extra thrown in to help tame the hump that is the nature of the beast with this type of crescent shaping. (Details on the pattern.) The crescent shape is formed by using kfb (garter sections) or pfb (lace sections) increases adjacent to 2-stitch garter borders. All garter stitch sections are worked with Color A; the lace stripes are worked with Color B.

Yardage: The range quoted at the top of this page combines both Colors A and B. The yardage breakdown per color is as follows:

Color A - 420-450 yds (384-411 m)
Color B - 175-190 yds (160-174 m) If you choose to work the lace stripes with different colors, make sure you have a minimum of 65 yards (59 m) of each color.

Sample Shawl Yarn Info: The yarn I used for the two samples is as follows: Gold Ipanema - Hazel Knits Lively DK/ Butterscotch colorway and Dream In Color Cosette/Cotton Wick colorway; Berry Ipanema - Hazel Knits Lively DK/Jam Session colorway and Salty Blonde DK/Lips Like Sugar colorway. Both shawls used around 425 yds (389 m) of Color A and 175 yds (160 m) of Color B, worked on a US 7 (4.5 mm) needle.

I was inspired to name this shawl after the classic bossa nova “The Girl from Ipanema,” one of the most famous of many great songs written by the Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim. I just discovered that it is the second most recorded song in history, following only “Yesterday” by the Beatles! Links to several of his songs are included on the pattern, but I’d love to share some with you here as well:

The Girl from Ipanema - Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz
Wave – Oscar Peterson Trio
Chega de Saudade – Max Brenner
Designate – Gal Costa
How Insensitive – Francesco Buzzurro
The Girl from Ipanema – Frank Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim