Hesperia
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I was pouring over stitch dictionaries, and kept getting pulled back to a pretty old design knit in a sport or worsted weight yarn, and had lots and lots of bobbles. It got me to thinking… what if I used a lace weight yarn, something fine and soft, and replaced those clunky bobbles with delicate nupps? I wanted to keep the edges clean and simple, so it had to be a triangle. I played a bit with casting on a few stitches and making it wider, but it was clumsy, so I turned it over. There we go. The answer was to cast on a silly number of stitches, and decrease to the bottom point. That's the ticket.
In looking for a name for this design I was once again faced with what I’ve always considered to be a very strange thing. Most flowers that people call blue are in fact some shade of purple. It’s difficult to find a truly blue flower. There is one in particular that has blue blue flowers, but as a pattern name it’s awful: Plumbago. Plumbago would have been perfect, as its sky blue flowers come in clusters that almost completely cover the plant. It’s glorious. But the name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it? I considered using one of Plumbago’s common names, but those didn’t suit this design at all. I called in assistance from Claudia, the wonderful woman who test knit this pattern for me. She suggested Hesperia, a variety of the fabulous Jacaranda trees that grow both in her part of the world and in mine. Perfect.
Hesperia is a triangular shawl knit from the top edge to the bottom point—but with a twist. The total width of the shawl is cast on, and it decreases every right side row until the bottom center point is reached.
In looking for a name for this design I was once again faced with what I’ve always considered to be a very strange thing. Most flowers that people call blue are in fact some shade of purple. It’s difficult to find a truly blue flower. There is one in particular that has blue blue flowers, but as a pattern name it’s awful: Plumbago. Plumbago would have been perfect, as its sky blue flowers come in clusters that almost completely cover the plant. It’s glorious. But the name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it? I considered using one of Plumbago’s common names, but those didn’t suit this design at all. I called in assistance from Claudia, the wonderful woman who test knit this pattern for me. She suggested Hesperia, a variety of the fabulous Jacaranda trees that grow both in her part of the world and in mine. Perfect.
Hesperia is a triangular shawl knit from the top edge to the bottom point—but with a twist. The total width of the shawl is cast on, and it decreases every right side row until the bottom center point is reached.
- Yarn: Lace weight; 400, 550 [725, 920, 1140] yards.
- Model: Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace in Forget Me Not in large; 70% alpaca, 30% silk; 440 yards in 50 grams.
- Gauge: 18 sts and 14 rows to 4 inches.
- Needles: US 6 (4 mm).
- Finished size: 55 x 25, 63 x 30 [71 x 35, 79 x 40, 87 x 45] inches.
- Stitch instructions: Charted only.
