Ruby Slippers Shawlette

Ruby Slippers Shawlette by Pennywenny

Project Overview

The Ruby Slippers Shawlette is an advanced-level knit shawlette pattern designed by Wendy Weber Deeds. This downloadable PDF pattern creates a delicate, triangular wrap-style shawl using fingering weight yarn. The shawlette showcases beautiful lace and shaping techniques, making it an ideal project for experienced knitters seeking to expand their technical skill set.

What Is Being Made

A shawlette is a smaller, more versatile version of a traditional shawl, typically worn as a shoulder wrap or decorative accent. The Ruby Slippers Shawlette features a triangular silhouette that drapes elegantly. The pattern demonstrates its versatility through multiple colorway options, including solid red (Ruby Slippers), purple (HRH Princess Violetta), and handspun striped variations, allowing knitters to personalize their finished piece.

Knitting Techniques Used

This pattern employs several intermediate to advanced knitting techniques that create visual interest and shaping:

• Increases: Left leaning increases (M1L) are used to shape the shawlette. The make-one-left technique involves inserting the left needle from front to back into the bar between stitches and knitting through the back loop to create a new stitch with a specific directional lean.
• Decreases: Double and triple decreases (K3tog) are employed to create lace motifs and control the overall shape of the garment.
• Yarn Overs: Yarn overs (YO) create the openwork lace patterns characteristic of shawlettes, adding visual elegance and reducing overall weight.
• Slipped Stitch Edging: A slipped stitch edging technique provides a polished, finished appearance to the shawlette's perimeter.
• Yarn Management: The pattern includes instructions for working with yarn in front (Wyif), an essential technique for maintaining proper stitch tension and creating consistent lace patterns.

Stitches and Stitch Guide

The pattern utilizes fundamental knitting abbreviations and stitches:

• K: Knit stitch, the basic foundation stitch
• YO: Yarn over, creating decorative holes and increases simultaneously
• SSK: Slip, slip, knit—a left-leaning decrease created by slipping two stitches individually, then knitting them together through the back loops
• K3tog: Knit three together, a double decrease that removes two stitches in a single motion
• M1L: Make one left, a method for creating increases with directional lean
• BO: Bind off, the technique used to secure stitches and finish the shawlette

Materials and Tools Required

The Ruby Slippers Shawlette requires minimal materials, making it an economical project:

• Yarn: Approximately 400 yards of fingering weight (4-ply) yarn. The pattern showcases beautiful results with hand-dyed fingering weight options such as String Theory Hand Dyed Caper Sock in the Ruby Slippers colorway or Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Medium in the HRH Princess Violetta colorway. Handspun yarn is also suitable for creating unique striped variations.
• Needles: US 4/3.5 mm needles, sized appropriately for fingering weight yarn to achieve proper gauge
• Notions: A stitch marker (optional but recommended for tracking pattern repeats), a yarn needle for weaving in ends during finishing

Gauge and Sizing

Proper gauge is critical for this shawlette pattern. The specified gauge is 27 stitches per 4 inches (10 centimeters). The pattern documentation emphasizes that gauge is extremely important if you plan to make this shawl without weighing your yarn. Knitters should swatch before beginning the project to ensure their needle size and tension produce the correct stitch density, as variations in gauge will significantly affect the finished dimensions and drape of the shawlette.

Pattern Format and Difficulty Level

This pattern is classified as advanced difficulty, making it suitable for experienced knitters with solid foundational skills. The download