Vervain

If you know me at all by now you know that flowers are a huge, huge part of my life. Everywhere I go, everything I do I look for flowers and at flowers, and want to immerse myself in their loveliness. If I lived in the U.K. in the early part of the 20th century no doubt my cottage would have been filled with overstuffed furniture in a wild array of floral chintz patterns. Late last year as I was thumbing through some well-loved stitch dictionaries, I stumbled upon a lovely little Estonian number that was knit on the bias and had two different Estonian flower stitches: clusters and double yarn overs. Though I was smitten, it wasn’t nearly enough. I also happen to love knitting nupps and working with beads. That’s when my lace weight cowl, Snow Flowers, was born. I’ve been working on variations on this theme for a while now, and am still in love.

Knitting begins with a cast on of just five little stitches. It grows on the right edge of most right-side rows until the triangle is about as big as desired, or the yarn starts to run short, then the border is worked.

• Yarn: fine lace weight; 525, 775 [1075, 1425, 1825] yards.
• Model: Anzula Meridian in Plum in second smallest size; 811 yards in 115 grams; 55% Tencel, 35% alpaca, 10% nylon.
• Gauge: 17 sts and 30 rows to 4 inches in lace, blocked.
• Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm).
• Finished sizes: (top edge x height) inches: 37.25 x 42.5, 45.25 x 52 [53.25 x 61.5, 61.25 x 71.25, 69.25 x 80.75].
• Stitch instructions: Charted only.