Traveling Woman

Being an indecisive individual, this shawl is named after two things. First, the song “Travelling Woman” by Bat for Lashes (she’s British, hence the extra “l”). “Travelling Woman” is a song about a brilliant woman with a promising future, who loses it all because she fell in love with a man who had too much potential, and not enough substance. She sings:

Hang on, travelling woman
Don’t sacrifice your plan
Cause it will come back to you
Before you lose it on the man.

The edge of the shawl represents the dangerous web of love, as well as its highs and lows. Along the bind off edge, the shawl can be blocked to subtle points, or straight.

Second, the character Angela Montenegro on Bones. If you’re familiar with Angela’s character, I think the song selection makes sense: she’s artistic, a believer in love, and just the type who might get in a little too deep before she can find her way out (she did get married in Fiji to a complete stranger, afterall). This is the second in a series of patterns based on the characters from the Bones television show.

And finally, the yarn used for this shawl traveled from California to London: it’s only fitting that the pattern be named Traveling Woman.

Download the free pattern. (Current version: 1.2)

While I was designing this pattern, I debated whether or not to release it for free, or to sell it. I ultimately decided to provide it for free. I support open source coding and other free projects, so why not open source knitting? Because this pattern is easy to customize – it is whatever you want it to be, size wise – I felt that it was something that would benefit from a community-type project base. The more people who have access to the pattern, the more ideas spread and circulate. It is my goal to spark creativity in as many people as possible. If you enjoy the pattern, I would encourage you to either:

1. tell me you like it (like most people, I enjoy praise)
2. knit it and share your ideas with others
3. tip me using the donate button

I look forward to providing you with more, open sourced, free patterns!

Yarn:
The Plucky Knitter Merino Cashmere Nylon Fingering (80/10/10 Merino/Cashmere/Nylon) in “Queensway” (385 yd/120g).

Recommended needles:
One US 6 (4.0mm) circular needle, your choice of length (I’d recommend 24” or longer).

Gauge:
Variable due to lace.

Sizes:
I have provided instructions to knit a one skein shawl. This sizing of this shawl is easily adjusted based on your preference. Chart A can be repeated as many times as you like without any problems. If you chose to make a larger shawl, keep in mind that B should only be done once. Chart B is the edge chart.

If you want to make the project larger, you have three choices:

1. repeat chart A until you’re a happy camper
2. make the stocking stitch section larger
3. make the stocking stitch section larger and do additional chart repeats

Resizing Recipe:
If you want to make your shawl larger, follow this formula-type thingy below to set your increases. Plug-in your numbers here:

14 x ____ (# of rpts desired) = x
x + 1 = y
y + 4 = z
z = number of sts you should increase to

x: ____ y: ____ z: ____

For this pattern, I worked 11 chart repeats. It doesn’t have to be an even number of repeats because we will be removing the markers for the center st and working the shawl as one large piece. My math looked like this:

14 x 11 = 154 -> 154 + 1 = 155 -> 155 + 4 = 159

The pattern as written increases to 159 sts in stocking stitch before beginning the lace charts. Tada!

Pattern notes:
The basis of this lace pattern comes from the Horseshoe pattern in Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (pg 209). I have modified it to add extra rows and width, and created the edging myself.

Always slip markers as you come to them. I have indicated where to slip the marker in the set-up rows, but beyond that, you will need to remember. All stitches should be slipped knitwise unless indicated.

I have knit this pattern with a garter stitch border of 2 stitches on each side. Some knitters may prefer a larger garter stitch border. If you increase the number of stitches in the border, remember this as you increase for the lace section.

The charts do not contain the garter stitch border or the yo at the beginning and end of each row. Instructions are provided in the lace charts section.

In the stocking stitch portion on right side rows, you increase four stitches. On wrong side rows, you increase two stitches.

In the lace portion, you increase two stitches on both right and wrong side rows (you omit the increases along the center stitch).