From the dark mines of the North I bring you this versatile rectangular shawl worked from one end to the next with buttons and buttonholes to fasten it down the front, around the back or the neck. The stitch is one that was used in a baby-blanket knit for my husband by his Grandmother, Doreen, from the coal-mining community of Wigan, Lancashire. No-one knows for sure but stories say that the name ‘pie-eaters’ was given to Wiganers around the time Doreen was born as a reference to their role in the 1926 General Strike, where Wigan miners were starved back to work and thus forced to eat ‘humble pie’. I wanted to knit the shawl in a dark colour to represent the darkness in the mines and show how it can be an elegant wrap for those winter parties.

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Please use the group, Eddie’s Room to ask questions about the pattern.

Sizes: one size fits all, but if you can adjust the size by using thinner or thicker yarn and smaller or larger needles, as you like.

Finished measurements: after blocking: 127 cm (50 inches) long x 33 cm (13 inches) wide.

Yarn: Wollmeise, 300 g, colourway Midnight (you only need approx. 100g of this) or 50-100g of a similar lace (2-ply) weight yarn.

Needles: 1 US 6 / 4mm circular needle, 24 inches or longer

Notions: tapestry needle for weaving in ends, blocking wire/pins, 2 stitch markers, 6 buttons

Gauge: 20 sts/22 rows = 4 inches in charted pattern or 24 sts/30 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch