Lilacs in the Doorway is a simple lace scarf based on the Estonian lilac leaf motif. It’s worked in 2 parts and then grafted at the center using Kitchener stitch (see third picture).

The scarf can be easily resized either by casting on more/fewer stitches as well as changing needle size and/or yarn weight. The original scarf was knitted in handspun Haunui Halfbred wool and the yardage cited here is a high guesstimate.

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This scarf is part of my collection The Cloths of Heaven, inspired by my favourite poems and poets. Its name comes from Walt Whitman’s poem “When Lilacs Last in the Doorway Bloomed.”

When lilacs last in the door-yard bloom’d,
And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,
I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

O ever-returning spring! trinity sure to me you bring;
Lilac blooming perennial, and drooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love.