Klamath

Klamath Shawl by Taiga Hilliard Designs

Project Overview

Klamath is an elegant knitted shawl featuring a beautiful lace pattern, designed by Taiga Hilliard Designs as a downloadable PDF pattern. This shawl is knit from end to end, making it an intuitive and adaptable project that becomes easier to work as you progress through the rows. The design is particularly well-suited for knitters new to shawl construction or lace knitting, offering a fun and relatively quick knit that works beautifully for fall and winter wear.

Construction Method and Techniques

The Klamath shawl employs an end-to-end knitting construction, which allows for flexible sizing based on available yarn. This approach means you can easily adjust the finished dimensions of your shawl depending on how much yarn you have on hand, making the pattern highly adaptable to different yarn quantities. The lace pattern is provided in both written instructions and charted format, giving knitters options for how they prefer to follow the pattern.

Stitches and Stitch Techniques

This pattern utilizes a range of fundamental and intermediate knitting stitches and techniques essential for lace knitting:

• K2tog (knit two stitches together) – a basic decrease stitch
• K3tog (knit three stitches together) – a double decrease stitch
• YO (yarn over) – creates the characteristic eyelets and openwork in lace patterns
• SSK (slip, slip, knit together through the back loops) – a left-leaning decrease
• DD (double decrease) – slip one stitch, knit two together, pass the slipped stitch over
• K (knit) and P (purl) – foundational stitches
• Kfb (knit into the front and back of the same stitch) – an increase stitch
• Ktbl (knit into the back of the stitch) – creates twisted stitches for texture
• M1 (make one) – pick up the horizontal stitch between stitches to create an increase
• SM (slip marker) and PM (place marker) – used to mark pattern sections and shaping points

Materials and Specifications

The Klamath shawl is designed to work with Madelinetosh ASAP yarn, though the pattern is highly versatile regarding yarn weight. The pattern accommodates super bulky weight yarn, bulky weight yarn doubled, or four strands of worsted weight yarn held together. However, the instructions note that you can adjust this pattern to work with any weight of yarn, making it accessible to knitters with various yarn stashes.

The project requires US size 19 (15.00 mm) needles for the recommended yarn weights. The gauge is 6.0 stitches over 4 inches, which is typical for bulky and super bulky weight projects. The total yardage required is 180 yards, making this a relatively quick project that works up rapidly due to the large needle size and yarn weight.

Difficulty Level

While classified as an advanced pattern, the Klamath shawl is specifically noted as an excellent starter project for knitters new to shawl construction and lace knitting. The end-to-end construction becomes intuitive after working the first few rows, and the combination of written and charted lace instructions provides flexibility for different learning preferences. This makes it an accessible advanced project for those ready to expand their skills into lace and shawl knitting.