My friend Rachel commissioned a shawl design. The requirements are:
1. It must feature a Dragonfly.
2. Minimal beads.
3. Aim for 2600-3000 yards. (she has 3200 yard skeins of Wollmeise she wants to use).
4. She wants the Pattern, so she can knit it herself.

I prefer not to have to purl back, so I thought either square or circular. Besides, these designs usually end up larger than triangular designs. Nor did I have an interest in a horseshoe type, either circular or square with the opening in one of the points (If I ever do something like that, I'd steek, and one really shouldn't steek a shawl, I think).

Here is a Dragonfly pose I want to capture:
I want to center that in each triangle of the square, with a lovely diagonal border stripes. Then, depending on yardage, I may knit a border around the edges. I determined what the cast on will look like for a square.

But first - the Gauge Swatches:


Starting with upper left, going clockwise:
Size 6 needles, 6 stitches/inch, Holiday Yarns Sunset
Size 4 needles, 7 stitches/inch, unknown but same base
Size 5 needles, 6.5 stitches/inch, Holiday Yarns Olive

I've got lots of scraps of lace, and we're going to use them all for this project. I'm going to knit enough of the center to establish patterns, then bind off 3/4, then focus on one triangle, with tons of lifelines. It'll be fun. I've stuck my nose in Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and have a few ideas of my own on top of that. But here's what we have so far.  ¶ 1:24 PM