Xandra

Xandra Triangular Shawl by Stefanie Bold

What Is Being Made

Xandra is a triangular knitted shawl designed by Stefanie Bold featuring a distinctive sideways construction that creates unique design elements impossible with traditional shawl methods. The finished piece showcases color stripes emerging from one corner and spreading across the entire shawl, combined with a jagged edge detail that adds visual interest and texture to the garment.

Design and Construction Technique

This shawl employs a sideways knitting method using short rows as the primary construction technique. This unconventional approach allows the designer to achieve both the radiating color stripes and the characteristic jagged edging that define the pattern. The sideways construction means you work the shawl horizontally rather than from a traditional center-out or top-down approach, creating segments that are individually shaped through strategic short-row shaping.

The contrast color is used to separate and define different segments throughout the shawl, visually organizing the striped effect. Designers using this pattern have creative flexibility to customize the color palette by alternating multiple main colors in each segment or assigning a unique color to every segment, allowing for personalization beyond the original two-color design.

Stitches and Stitch Pattern

Xandra is worked entirely in garter stitch, the most fundamental and beginner-friendly knit stitch pattern. Garter stitch is created by knitting every row, producing a reversible fabric with horizontal ridges that look identical on both sides. This stitch choice makes the pattern accessible to knitters new to shawl construction while providing excellent drape and texture suitable for a triangular wrap.

A crochet cast-on is used to begin the shawl, selected specifically to complement and match the bind-off edge, creating a cohesive and balanced finished appearance.

Yarn and Materials

Xandra is designed for sport weight yarn, a lightweight yarn category ideal for creating delicate, drapey garments. The pattern requires approximately 1450 meters of main color yarn and 325 meters of contrast color yarn, totaling roughly 1775 meters. This yardage translates to approximately 50 grams per 150 meters, making the total project roughly 590 grams of yarn.

The original shawl shown in the pattern was knitted using Atelier Zitron "life style" yarn in sport weight wool, a premium yarn choice that provides excellent stitch definition and drape for displaying the garter stitch texture and color contrast segments.

Skill Level

This pattern is rated as beginner difficulty, making it an excellent introduction to shawl knitting despite its innovative construction method. The straightforward garter stitch requires only basic knitting knowledge, and the short-row shaping, while creating advanced visual effects, is explained within the pattern instructions to guide new knitters through the technique.