A new victorian shawl

Old knitting books are so fascinating! And they inspire me a lot. So my Victorian Wrap comes from an elaboration of a simple pattern included in The lady's knitting book (London 1874)

The directions I've found:

And here is my Victorian Wrap:

Let's talk about the shape. It’s not a classic shawl: it's a rectangular wrap, and the cast on is on the longest side. That’s a great thing: if yarn runs out too early, you get a scarf!

The pattern is easy to knit, the look is stunning and there isn’t a real right or wrong side: sides are different and both interesting!

As those times fashion suggested, I’ve added a crocheted border… it’s not a scarlet or violet one, anyway it’s a border! Only three rows of an impromptu border in a contrasting colour.

Yarn: approx. 200 gr of fingering weight yarn (here 3 skeins of British Hampshire 4ply by The little grey sheep) + approx. 30-40 gr for the crocheted border (here leftover of Titus).

Needles: 4.5 mm circular needles (it’s worked flat, circular needles get it comfortable)

Hook: 4,5mm – to crochet the border

Markers: 5, optional (but useful while casting on)

Directions:

Cast on 302 sts, placing markers every 50sts in order to stay safe!!! - if I make it again I would cast on less sts to make it less wide and deeper (let's say 281sts).

Note - my fav cast on method is cable cast on, but you can use the method you are used to, just be sure to knit regular stitches, not too loose, not too tight.

row 1: knit all - (I've removed all markers while knitting the first row)

row 2: k2, * yo, k3, pass the first one over the following 2 sts, repeat from * to the end of row

Repeat these 2 rows until yarn is almost finished – end with row 1.

Crocheted border: change colour and crochet a SC row directly from the needle. Crochet 2 rows as you prefer.

Enjoy!