1154 Hertford - Shawl Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Wachusett

Pattern Summary: 1154 Hertford Shawlette by Julie Turjoman

About This Design

The Hertford is a beautifully crafted lace shawlette designed by Julie Turjoman and published by Valley Yarns. This shoulder-warming accessory is the perfect blend of elegance and practicality — sized just right to tuck into a jacket collar for everyday warmth or to drape gracefully over the shoulders for a special evening out. Despite its luxurious lace appearance, the pattern is approachable enough for intermediate knitters and even confident beginners, thanks to a simple, easily memorized lace repeat that works up with satisfying speed.

The finished shawlette measures approximately 27½ inches deep by 52½ inches long, making it a generous wrap that provides real warmth without overwhelming the wearer. It is offered in one size and is worked as a single seamless piece from the bottom up, growing outward through a clever series of cast-on expansions.

Construction and Techniques

The Hertford shawlette is constructed flat, worked back and forth in rows on a circular needle — a technique that allows the growing width of the piece to rest comfortably on the cable without the need for long straight needles. The construction is seamless and worked in one piece from start to finish, meaning there is no seaming required at any stage.

The shawlette begins with a bottom-up approach, casting on just 14 stitches to establish a single lace pattern repeat at the center. From there, the piece widens at regular intervals using the Knitted-On cast-on method, which adds stitches to each side of the work at the beginning of rows. After every completed 16-row lace repeat, two additional lace pattern repeats are added — one on each side — causing the shawlette to grow symmetrically and organically outward. This incremental expansion is one of the most satisfying aspects of the pattern, as the piece visibly blooms with each new section added.

A key finishing detail is the slipped edge stitch: the first stitch of every row is slipped purlwise, creating a smooth, polished selvedge along both long edges of the shawlette. Stitch markers are used throughout — both locking markers and standard markers placed between each 12-stitch lace repeat — to help knitters track the pattern sections as the stitch count grows.

Lace Stitch Pattern

The heart of the Hertford is its 12-stitch, 16-row lace repeat, which produces a delicate, openwork fabric. Each individual repeat measures approximately 2½ inches by 2½ inches when blocked, and the full blocked gauge is 20 stitches and 28 rows to 4 inches in the lace stitch. Blocking is an essential finishing step for lace knitting, as it opens up the yarn overs and defines the pattern, transforming the fabric from a slightly scrunched texture into a beautifully draped, airy design.

Lace knitting typically involves a combination of yarn overs to create decorative eyelets and decreases — such as knit-two-together or slip-slip-knit — to compensate and maintain the stitch count within each repeat. The result is a rhythmic, flowing pattern that, once memorized, allows knitters to work with confidence and ease. The PDF pattern provides full stitch-by-stitch row instructions for all 16 rows of the lace repeat.

Stitches Used

• Lace pattern — a 12-stitch, 16-row repeat forming the primary fabric of the shawlette
• Yarn overs — creating the characteristic eyelets of the lace design
• Decreases — used to balance yarn overs and shape the lace motif
• Slipped edge stitches — purlwise slip of the first stitch on every row for a clean selvedge
• Knitted-On cast-on — used both for the initial cast-on and for the incremental width expansions throughout construction

Materials: Yarn and Needles

This pattern is written specifically for Valley Yarns Wachusett, a sumptuous worsted-weight yarn composed of