An elegant shawl featuring the time-honored thistle. Wikipedia defines them as “Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles occur all over the plant – on the stem and flat parts of leaves. They are an adaptation that protects the plant from being eaten by herbivores.”

And yet, with all their thorniness, we adore them. They are commercially important in making rennet for cheese, used by bees to make honey, used in making some pharmaceutical compounds, and we even eat the artichoke. Yes, the artichoke belongs to the thistle family.

Goldfinches feed on their seeds. The fritillary and monarch butterflies rely on the thistle as their favorite nectar sources.

The thistle is the floral emblem of Scotland.

Most of all though, we love the elegant beauty of the thistle flower.

I believe the thistle is a reminder of what it means to be a woman. We may be thorny but we are beautiful and very useful.

Four versions of this shawl.

Straight Sides - One with open and solid blocks only. One with lacets.

Insets in the Sides - One with open and solid blocks only. One with lacets.

Printable Pattern
Look over the pattern and print only the pages you need. Project samples are grouped at the end of the pattern under Random Information. This removes excessive photos from the pattern itself.

FIber
This pattern was designed for lace weight yarn or crochet thread. Technically, all cotton crochet thread is lace weight. Lace weight is a huge ‘catch all’ category. The pattern tells you how to size the center back of your shawl. You can use 3 or 4 stitch blocks. This helps you to choose your hook size and fiber weight.

I recommend fingering weight and below. Fingering weight should work with a 3-stitch block. This will all depend on your own personal gauge, of course.

I prefer cotton crochet thread for my shawls for a couple of reasons. Instead of blocking, I can iron my shawls. I live in a very hot and humid climate.

Stitches Used
This is a traditional filet pattern. You can make it using a 3-st or 4-st block. The pattern will walk you through some basics to get you started on the chart.

A complete stitch definition section is included in this pattern. No need to hunt on the internet for how to make the stitches in this pattern.

Gauge
This pattern assumes that your gauge will be square.

blocks = rows

Hook Size
Use the hook size that you need to get your target gauge.

Overview
The pattern is written to start in the middle (center back) and work out towards each tip. This means that you are always decreasing.

That being said, you can start at the tip and work up. Some people don’t like long starting chains and don’t mind increases. Each half of the chart is a mirror image of the other side.

This is a fully charted pattern. If you are familiar with filet, then you will have no problems. You will be able to work the charts in any direction you prefer.

Legalities of purchasing this .PDF
By purchasing this pattern you agree NOT to email, share, or pass these patterns (.pdfs) around to anyone.

You agree to ABIDE by all copyright laws, or you will be responsible for any damages that result from this illegal activity.

You are purchasing the right to USE the patterns for your own personal use only.

You are allowed to sell the finished product only in limited quantities with a tag added and designer credit given as “Design by Robin Abdullah”.

No corp mass production allowed.

You are agreeing NOT to translate into any other language or convert into graphs.

You agree NOT to make a tutorial video and upload on YouTube or any other place such as blogs, web pages, etc to show how to make any of these designs.

ALL illegal activity will be directed to my copyright attorney and you will pay any and all damages resulting in loss of income.

Copyright ©2019 all rights reserved by Robin Abdullah.

Thank you for stopping in and for your continued interest in my designs.