Casual delft shawl

Casual Delft Shawl by Petra Christel Breakstone

What is Being Made

The Casual Delft shawl is a generous trapezoid-shaped shawl measuring 84 inches long and 29 inches at its deepest point when knitted to gauge. Designed by Petra Christel Breakstone in 2020, this shawl features a three-color palette inspired by casual Delft porcelain patterns. The design combines visual interest with wearable elegance, making it suitable for both everyday wear and special occasions.

Knitting Techniques

This shawl is entirely knitted sideways, a construction method that builds the garment from one edge to the opposite edge rather than from top to bottom. This approach allows for strategic placement of stitch patterns and color changes throughout the design. The sideways construction features increases worked in easy garter stitches at the beginning, building the width of the shawl gradually. The middle section showcases marled or blended knitting, where multiple colors are worked together to create subtle color mixing effects. A floating stitch pattern creates visual depth in the central area, followed by striped sections and decreases worked in garter stitches that taper to the finishing tip.

Stitches Used

The Casual Delft shawl employs a variety of knitting stitches to create its multifaceted design:

• Garter stitch - Used for the increase and decrease sections, providing a textured, reversible fabric that frames the more delicate stitch patterns
• Lace stitches - Beautiful openwork patterns create visual interest and airiness in the design
• Marled or blended knitting - Multiple colors worked together simultaneously to create subtle color blending and texture
• Floating stitch pattern - A specialized stitch technique that creates the illusion of stitches floating above the fabric surface in the middle section
• Striped sections - Color changes create horizontal stripes in the lower portion of the shawl

Materials and Yarn Specifications

The Casual Delft shawl is designed to be knitted from 3-ply fingering weight yarn, a lightweight yet durable yarn category. The pattern calls for a total of 250 yards of yarn worked in a thick-and-thin textured yarn composed of a 30% linen and 70% cotton blend. This fiber composition creates a breathable, drape-friendly fabric ideal for a shawl.

The three-color palette consists of:

• C1 - Speckled Grey (2 cakes)
• C2 - Ink (2 cakes)
• C3 - Silver (2 cakes)

The designer recommends knitting this pattern using colorful yarn kits available from Yarnz2go, which provide pre-selected coordinated colors and quantities for optimal results.

Difficulty Level

The Casual Delft shawl is rated as an intermediate knitting project. While the sideways construction and garter stitch increases and decreases are accessible to developing knitters, the combination of marled knitting, lace stitches, and floating stitch patterns requires solid foundational skills and the ability to read and follow complex stitch patterns. Knitters should be comfortable managing multiple colors and understanding how to execute specialty techniques before beginning this project.

Design Philosophy

This shawl balances down-to-earth simplicity with stylish sophistication. The casual Delft porcelain inspiration provides a cultural and aesthetic reference point, while the construction method and stitch combinations ensure that the finished piece is both a delight to knit and beautiful to wear. The generous dimensions make it versatile for layering and draping.