My mom wanted a cozy outer layer for cool summer evenings outdoors that would look good with a sundress and not be too warm, so I made the Midsummer Night’s Shrug.

If you have the skill to make a simple hat and the patience to make twenty or thirty of them, then this project should be doable for you. I’ve included links to tutorials at the end of this pattern for anything that you would not encounter making a basic stockinette stitch cap.

The stitch pattern is called Pillar Openwork. The eyelets formed by yarn overs keep it airy, but the passed over stitches give it a double thickness that keeps it cozy.

It is knitted from cuff to cuff as one piece. Although it’s easy to adapt the pattern to do the closed parts of the sleeves in the round and eliminate seaming entirely, I recommend knitting it flat since this will make it much easier to block. Also, the seam runs along the seed stitch which provides great camo for minor errors.

The finished dimensions of the shrug shown are 48” x 20”. (20” is at back). As designed it should fit most women in sizes US 4-14. Shortening the arms or adding extra length is easy to do as there is hardly any shaping involved in this garment.

Erratum: I entered the wrong yardage on the pattern because I was mistaken about the yd./skein of the yarn I was using. You’ll need about 800 yd. I bought 10 skeins of Paton’s Silk Bamboo and have two left over. I’m a tight knitter, so you may get away with less.