Can Can Shawl

The inspiration for this shawl started with the yarn. The boldly variegated pink and black of the Cabaret colorway in Manos Del Uruguay’s Alegria required something special. After poring over pictures of Can Can dancers with their ruffled skirts and fishnet stockings, I developed this shawl pattern. The semi-solid main color provides the perfect counter-balance to the variegated contrast color, and the deep black border finishes the shawl with style.

The shawl is worked from the top down beginning with a garter tab cast-on. The crescent shape is created by increasing only at the edges of the shawl, in each contrast color stripe. When the main section of the shawl is complete the deep lace mesh border is worked without increases. The pattern includes complete written directions and no charts.

Size
80 inches/203 cm wide by 19 inches/48.5 cm deep

Materials

Yarn
Approximately 908 yds/830 m fingering weight yarn
Sample shown in Manos del Uruguay Alegria, 75% wool, 25% nylon, 445 yds/407 m per 3.5 oz/100g
MC Petal 423 yds/387 m; 3.33 oz/95 g
CC1 Cabaret 151 yds/138 m; 1.19 oz/34 g
CC2 Black 334 yds/305 m; 2.6 oz/75 g

Needles
US 6/4 mm circular needles or size needed to obtain gauge

Gauge
22 sts and 44 rows = 4 inches/10 cm in garter stitch before blocking
20 sts and 38 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch after blocking