CAL in MAD Cap Fans group

This pattern is based on the “Shetland Wool Veil for Infant’s Wear,” which was published in “The Peterson’s Magazine” exactly 150 years ago, in March of 1864. The original pattern was written by the prolific Mrs. Jane Weaver, and it uses a half-yard starting chain to create a small veil “suitable for infant wear.” I crocheted a facsimile of the original garment, which produced a small shawl which could be used for an 18” doll.

The shawl which I designed is similar to the original pattern in that both begin with a long starting chain, have a crochet chain mesh ground, and a shell bottom edging. The original pattern decreases at the sides of the ground, ending the ground at about half the original width. The Shell edging is then worked around the sides and bottom edge of the ground. As I said, it makes a nice doll-sized shawl…

My shawl pattern increases rather than decreases at the end of each row, so the shawl grows rather than shrinks at the sides. I also increase the size of the chain spaces as the shawl progresses. The bottom edging includes Shells, somewhat different from the original. I actually made two versions of the pattern – one as a worsted weight crescent, and the second as a fingering weight wider crescent.

My first shawl model was made in the deep of a snowy February. At that time it seemed like Winter would never end, and I was still in my annual “worsted weight phase.” It made a nice 48” wide crescent, bravely modeled by my freezing daughter in the snow.

My second shawl model was made during a blustery March, when green spikes were poking up in my garden in defiance of yet another “Winter Storm Warning.“ I pushed the edge increasing further to produce a much wider crescent (60”), and used fingering weight yarn in colors which reminded me of the garden yet to come.