I’ve decided to knit a lace shawl for the Fall Shawl Competition at The Recycled Lamb here in Golden, CO. And rather than do a pre-existing design (because that’s too easy), I’ve decided to design my own.

I’ve picked up a gorgeous green silk (Kiku 100% Bombyx) that isn’t done justice here:

And I’ve put together a pattern that combines some crown prince and a separate lace edging from the Knitted Lace of Estonia book, and some samples from the Brooklyn Museum Sampler.

Then I mapped out endlessly and sat with a calculator as I worked out how my pattern would “work” so that all the elements played nice together. I switched patterns partway through and juggled how I was adding the crown prince pattern due to numbers not matching.

I’ve ended up with a row of the crown prince pattern, then a inner “box” of one of the sampler patterns and an outer “box” of another. I’ll take some notes and write it out as I go so that I can publish it as a PDF on Ravelry in case anyone wants it (assuming it turns out).

I’ll take some pics as I progress. First, I must finish a tunic for my niece in an amazing cotton/linen I picked up at the same time. I’ll post that shortly. It’s a beautiful purple. And I have to rush as it’s her birthday next week.