Lustrare Shawl

It’s funny how seemingly simple words can evolve into different but related concepts over time. The Latin verb “lustro” referred to the circular movements priests made during a ritual purification. The word has since evolved into concepts in Italian, Spanish, Polish, and English that range from “to shine” to “a mirror” to “a five year period.”

Similarly, this relatively simple shawl (and its matching hat and mitts patterns) mix standard ideas—mostly stockinette stitch, with a little eyelet work—to create a new set of knit ideas.

Construction of this shawl is a little different from the norm; first you start with a pentagram knit in the round, then you bind off stitches along three sides, leaving live stitches to form two arms. These are knit flat and taper naturally to a point.