Sometimes things should be really easy, but they trick you and they aren’t. I’m trying not to be superstitious about the “Wicked Practical Shawl” --after all “wicked” was in the New England use of the word--and no, not Salem. But something weird and wicked happened here and the pattern we tech edited wasn’t the pattern that we released. Well, not exactly…and as knitting patterns go, it needs to be exact. So, once someone reached out with issues, I sent the shawl to my tech editor who pinned it out and counted the rows and the stitches like a detective. So here it is in a re-release, and yup, I’m calling it version 7. That’s lucky, right? And yeah, that’s a horseshoe in the bottom corner--can’t hurt!

So the wicked, original version made a tiny shawl, the Lucky version makes the measurements above.

Sometimes naming a yarn or a design is the hardest part! Giving a nod to New England, I named this shawl for what it is. “Wicked” is New England for “very”, and practical…that’s just New England. To make the shawl, you only need one skein and you’ll use almost all of it. It knits up quickly and blocks out to an ample wingspan of 80 inches. The extra increases at the end create a curved swoosh shape, which stays put. One skein, no waste, quick knit, good size, good shape—wicked practical!

Yarn: Wonderland Yarns “Mad Hatter” sport weight, 100% superwash merino: 344 yds/4 oz skein , shown in limited edition colorway “New England”

Needles & Notions: US size 9 circular needle (or size required to get gauge), US size 10.5 needle for binding off (optional), darning needle, pins and/or wires for blocking

Gauge: 16 sts & 22 rows = 4”/10 cm stockinette, after blocking (sort of aggressively)

Measurements: 80” wingspan, measured across top edge; 17” at deepest point

Abbreviations: CO: cast on; K: knit; k2tog: knit two stitches together; P: purl; RS: right side; st/sts: stitch(es); WS: wrong side; yo: yarn over; ( ): work instructions in brackets as many times as specified

ERRATA: Make sure you have lucky version 7.