Petal Pink Shawl

Designed and woven by Jane Patrick

This project first appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Handwoven.

I wanted to weave a warp with large holes in it—mega lace, so to speak. Since I have an affinity for hand-controlled techniques, I decided that I’d try to figure out a way to make what I had in my mind. After some playing around, I found that Spanish lace, when taken to the extreme, gave me the look I was after.

Spanish lace is made by weaving plain weave back and forth across a small group of threads and then moving onto the next group of threads and weaving back and forth in this section, and so on, across the warp. To create the holes, I pulled each section severely. You’ll see one diagonal thread in the open space where the weft travels from the top of one section to the bottom of the next. Because you are building up little sections, you’ll find a hand beater helpful to beat in the weft.

For this piece, the lacy openings are offset from one another, with eight openings beginning 3" from the selvedges for one row of Spanish lace and seven openings, beginning 4" from the selvedges for the alternate row.

I used two fine, luxury knitting yarns: a smooth alpaca-silk yarn for the warp, and a fluffy mohair-silk for the weft. I suggest avoiding using brushed yarns like mohair in the warp, because the fuzzy fibers catch on one another, impacting the shed.

During weaving, the fabric is quite open on the loom. It’s the heavy fulling in the washer that transforms the fabric in to this lucsiously soft and fuzzy shawl.

Project Specs

Finished size: 17" wide x 68" long plus 6" fringe on each end

Weave structure: plain weave and Spanish lace

Warp length: 3 yards which allows 33" for take-up and loom waste.

Width in reed: 20"

Number of warp ends: 240

EPI: 12

PPI: 12

What You'll Need

Materials

Warp: Silky Alpaca Lace from Classic Elite (440 yd/50 gr balls) in #2471 Pixie Pink. You’ll need 720 yards or 2 balls.
Weft: Kid Seta from Cascade Yarns (230 yd/25 gr balls) in #463 pale pink. You’ll need 550 yards or 3 balls.

Equipment

shaft loom or rigid heddle loom with at least 20” weaving width
12 dent reed
shuttle
tapestry beater
straight pins for marking Spanish lace placement

Directions

Warping: Warp the loom for plain weave.
Weaving notes: Allow 8" in your tie-on for fringe. Use Kid Seta and use a light beat throughout.
To help me keep track of the Spanish lace sections, I marked the weaving with straight pins before beginning each pair of lace rows.

For pattern 1, place the first pin 3" from the selvedge (count over 36 threads), then place 7 more pins 2" apart or every 24 threads. The section on the opposite selvedge will also be 36 threads wide. You’ll have a total of 9 sections.

For pattern 2, place the first pin 4" or 48 threads from the selvedge and then every 2" (or 24 threads), ending with 4" (48 threads) at the opposite selvedge. You’ll have 8 sections in total.

Weaving Pattern

Weave 4" plain weave across the width of the warp.
Weave Spanish lace, pattern 1 (see set up above). After marking the weaving, open the next shed and insert the shuttle up to the 1st pin. Take the shuttle out of the shed. Beat gently (use a hand beater). Change sheds and return the shuttle to the selvedge. Pull the weft tight to pull the warp threads into the section. Beat, change sheds, repeat. At this point, you will have woven a total of five picks. On the fifth pick, weave across to the next section, always pulling the weft to draw in the warps to make the holes (an exception is the selvedge edge which should be left straight, or un-pulled). The weft will dip down to begin weaving the next section (this is how the diagonal line is formed).
Weave this section and the remaining 7 sections until you reach the other selvedge.
Weave 2 ½" of plain weave, ending on the same side you started pattern 1. Repeat as you did for pattern 1, beginning 48 threads from the selvedge. Weave 2 ½" of plain weave.
Repeat steps 2-4, ending with pattern 1, until 11 repeats are woven.
End with 4" of plain weave and allow 8" for fringe at the end of the warp.

Finishing

Remove the fabric from the loom and tie overhand knots in the ends to secure the weft. I used groups of 6 warp threads.
Roll up the fabric in dish towels. Tie the bundle securely in at least 3 places. Insert the bundle into a pillow case and tie it shut. Machine wash on hot water on gentle for 10 minutes. I have a front-loading washer, so you have top loading machine, you might want to check your fabric every 5 minutes. When the fabric is sufficiently fulled, rinse by hand in lukewarm water and lay flat to dry. Trim the fringe to 6" and steam press on medium.

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