Nadira means “rare” or “precious” in Persian, two words that aptly describe the wonder that is lace knitting. I have always loved Persian carpets. The artistry required to create these intricate works of art is mind boggling, to say the least. Because I used the structure of these carpets as an inspiration for this design, I thought it fitting that it should have a beautiful Persian name. The infinity sign motifs on the border represent the infinite number of lace designs made possible by the mathematical pairing of yarn overs and decreases that--like magic--turns plain knitted fabric into exquisite lace.

Nadira is a lace top-down triangular shawl which was designed to be knitted with lace weight yarn, although fingering weight would certainly be appropriate to use as well. Nadira is offered as a 20-page pattern with large, easy-to-read charts and detailed instructions on how to use them. It is a very bohemian design, equally perfect to wear with jeans or dresses, tied around your waist or slung casually around your shoulders.

Please note that this is a charted pattern, there are no written out instructions for the charts.

A new feature that I’ve added is a “Design Your Own Shawl” section of separate charts that will allow you to knit the various motifs found in the main body of the shawl in whatever order you like in order to customize the design and size of your shawl. There is an option to knit the entire body in stockinette as well. Also included are detailed blocking instructions. (Please print out pages 1-11 to make a shawl the size and design pictured in purple. The custom instructions and charts start on page 12 and continue to page 20.)

Nadira is also available as part of the Lace Triangle Collection: Ethereal Lace Shawls e-book.

Size: Medium Shawl (pictured) 66 x 33” (168 x 84 cm); Small Shawl 56 x 28” (142 x 71 cm); Large Shawl 76 x 38” (193 x 97 cm) – all knitted in lace weight yarn at the gauge referenced, but size will vary based on needle size, yarn tension and individual knitting style.

Yardage: I used about 750 yards (686 m) of lace weight yarn for the medium sized purple sample pictured. Please note that test knitters used between 730-830 yards (668-759 m) for the same size. Yardage estimates for other sizes are as follows: Small 600-725 yards (549-663 m) and large 950-1175 yards (869-1075 m). If fingering yarn is used with US 5 (3.75 mm) needles, 700-825 yards (640-754 m) will result in a shawl measuring approx. 68 x 64” (173 x 163 cm), using charts for the small size, since fingering weight will knit up larger than lace weight.