Bernhardt Shawl in Valley Yarns Southampton - 821 - Downloadable PDF

Bernhardt Shawl by Kirsten Hipsky – Pattern Summary (Valley Yarns Southampton #821)

The Bernhardt Shawl, pattern number 821, is an original knitting design by Kirsten Hipsky, published as a downloadable PDF. It produces a long, elegant rectangular shawl measuring 24 inches wide and 60 inches long — a generous, wearable wrap that drapes beautifully over the shoulders or can be worn in a variety of styles. The design is rated beginner difficulty, making it an approachable project for knitters who are still building their skills while still yielding a sophisticated, heirloom-quality finished piece.

What Is Being Made

The finished object is a classic rectangular shawl worked entirely flat from cast-on edge to bind-off. At 24 inches by 60 inches, it is long enough to wrap generously around the body or drape over both shoulders. The design concept, as described in the pattern, involves effervescent eyelets that fade slowly into sedate stockinette down the length of the shawl — meaning the eyelet lace detailing is most prominent at the beginning and gradually becomes more sparse and widely spaced as the knitting progresses, giving the finished piece a beautiful, organic visual transition from lacy to smooth.

Design Structure and Sections

The Bernhardt Shawl is organized into eight distinct sections, each with its own eyelet placement rhythm. This sectional structure is what creates the gradual fade from dense lace to near-solid stockinette. The sections progress as follows:

• First section: The most densely laced portion, featuring eyelets on every right-side row in a tight, repeating 4-row sequence, worked a total of 16 times for 64 rows of active lace patterning.
• Second section: Eyelets appear every other right-side row within an 8-row repeat, worked 8 times for 64 rows, introducing plain knit rows between the lace rows.
• Third section: Eyelets are spaced further apart within an 8-row repeat, with plain knit rows increasing between each eyelet row.
• Fourth through Eighth sections: Each successive section increases the number of plain stockinette rows between eyelet rows, and the eyelets themselves are placed further apart within each row. By the later sections, a single eyelet row appears only once every 16 or 32 rows, surrounded by long stretches of smooth stockinette. The eyelet columns also shift position within the repeat, adding subtle visual movement even as the lace becomes more restrained.

This carefully engineered progression is what gives the Bernhardt Shawl its signature fading lace effect — a design detail that reads as visually complex but is executed through straightforward, beginner-friendly stitch combinations.

Techniques Used

The shawl is worked flat (back and forth in rows) from beginning to end — there is no knitting in the round involved. The construction is straightforward: cast on, work through the eight sections in sequence, and bind off. Key techniques include:

• Flat knitting — all rows are worked back and forth on straight or circular needles.
• Holding yarn double — both strands of Valley Yarns Southampton are held together throughout the entire project, which is an important technique note for knitters new to working with doubled yarn. This creates a denser, loftier fabric than a single strand would produce and contributes to the shawl's warmth and drape.
• Garter stitch selvedge — a 2-stitch garter border (k2 at each end of every row) is maintained throughout all sections, giving the shawl clean, stable edges that lie flat without curling.
• Stockinette stitch — the primary background fabric of the shawl, formed by knitting right-side rows and purling wrong-side rows (within the selvedge stitches).
• Eyelet lace — created using the classic k2tog, yo combination (a right-leaning decrease paired with a yarn-over), which forms a small, clean eyelet hole. This is one of the most fundamental lace techniques in knitting and is well within reach for beginner knitters.

Stitches