Dunmore Shawl

The Dunmore Shawl is named for the town of the same name in County Galway. Like so many other Irish towns, this one is steeped in history and dotted with castles. As I was designing this shawl, I often found history, castles, and beautiful trailing flowers on my mind. 

All of these things have strength and beauty. They’re strong yet fleeting. One stone crumbles in the wrong place, and a castle that has been there for hundreds of years can become unstable. One hard frost can cause a beautiful vine of trailing flowers to suddenly die. 

Life is also beautiful and fleeting. And we have to enjoy that beauty, not only despite the fragility of it but because of it. Just like this half-pi shaped shawl uses a single strand of fingering weight yarn to create the delicate, yet solid fabric of this shawl, so do many of the beautiful things that we love in this life. This one fleeting, beautiful life. 

Written in one size, with both written and charted directions, this shawl is perfect for a confident beginner but interesting enough to keep advanced knitters happy.

The increases in this two-skein shawl are created over only 6 rows, allowing you to sink into the knit with rows that will stay the same length for a bit. Allowing you to lean into the rhythm of the lace without your stitch count growing on you.

So let’s knit our beautiful shawls, enjoy our loved ones, and soak up every little bit of this life we have.

Needle:

US 6 (4.0 mm), 40” (100 cm) circular needle or needles needed to get gauge

Suggested Yarn: Under the Olive Tree, Luxury 4-ply Yarn, Fingering Weight, 2 skeins, [50% Superwash Merino Wool/50% Silk; 440 yds (400 m)/100 g] or any fingering weight yarn of your choosing

Sample uses: Wisteria, approx. 850 yds (780 m)

Gauge: 19 stitches/23 rows = 4” (10 cm) square in lace from Lace Section using US 6 (4.0 mm) needles or whatever size needle gives you the fabric you would like. 

Other Notions: 2 stitch markers for edge stitches, 27 stitch markers for lace (optional, but suggested to make things easier), darning needle

Special Techniques:

Knit, purl, working from charts (written directions available), increases (yo), decreases (k2tog, ssk), garter tab cast on & bind off

Final Measurements: 

72“ x 25” (183 x 64 cm)