Northern Lights is a shawl which attempts to recreate the curtain effect of the Northern Lights across the sky. It features a deep New Shell border, and short rows in garter stitch to make a symmetrical shawl, worked from the bottom point up.

I used virtually all of two skeins of a special limited edition of Baa Ram Ewe’s Titus over-dyed by the Fibre Fox to create a colourway called Northern Lights. A four ply yarn with blues, purples and greens is what you’ll need to find to recreate this, if you’re not lucky enough to have the Titus in your yarn hoard.

My shawl measures approx 76cm / 30” at the deepest point, and the wingspan (which curves a little) is approx 234cm / 92” across.

The pattern starts with 11 stitches and 6 rows. To keep the New Shell lace symmetrical, stitches are cast on separately for the left hand side, but cast on at the beginning of the row for the right hand side, to join and work across all the stitches. I used a long circular needle (120cm or 150cm is ideal) and found a DPN useful for the separate cast on. When six rows of the lace pattern are completed, further stitches are cast on either side to make the triangular shape. My top edge was 351 stitches.

There are charts and written instructions to explain how the pattern develops - it’s simpler than it perhaps sounds, and the rhythm will develop as you progress.