Talise is a top-down, crescent-shaped lace shawl with a wide mesh lace border that cascades into elegant curls. The name Talise is of Native American origin and means beautiful waters. The design inspiration for this shawl comes from my memories of fishing with my dad on the Potomac River in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, when I was a teenager. The various motifs in the design evoke water, rocks, boulders and arrowheads.

While dimensions and yardage are provided for fingering or sock weight, Talise could also be worked in any weight you choose. Solid or tonal yarn is recommended for this design. Both the body and border lengths may be customized—full instructions are provided, including how to calculate yardage and stitch counts for any size. The pattern includes detailed blocking instructions to show how to block the shawl in order to achieve the spiral effect at the wingspan ends.

The Talise pattern includes both charts and full written out instructions for those of you who prefer not to use charts.

Construction: Talise starts at the center back of the neck and is worked down to the bottom edge. There is a 3-stitch garter border worked at the beginning and end of each row. The crescent shape is made by using kfb and pfb increases adjacent to the garter borders. A long garter tab at the beginning of the shawl helps to alleviate the hump that sometimes occurs with this type of crescent shaping. The spiral effect at the wingspan ends is achieved by twirling the tips in the direction of the curl when the shawl is worn.

Size and Yardage: Pattern size is 76 x 17.5” (193 x 45 cm), relaxed after blocking. Test knitters used between 640-690 yards (585-631 m) of fingering weight yarn.