Chartres Shawl

$6.95 (PDF)

Inspired by the Chartres Cathedral, a beautiful example of French Gothic Art.

I remember as a child, my mom would take my siblings and me to mass every Sunday. As the priest was giving his sermon, I would stare at the stained-glass windows and study the details of the ornate designs and pictures around the inside of the church. As an adult, I admired the artwork and details of cathedrals in pictures, books, and movies. The inspiration for my shawl design is the Chartres Cathedral that marked a high point in French Gothic Art. The Chartres Shawl was based on the idea of building a cathedral through knitting. Each section of this half-pi-shaped shawl is my interpretation of some of the notable characteristics of Gothic Architecture.

The Chartres Shawl begins with a garter-tab cast on. Based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Pi Shawl Method, increases in each section double after the amount of rows worked double in this half-pi-shaped shawl. After the six sections are completed, a knitted-on border is worked to bind off the stitches. Optional placed beads can be added in Section 6 and to the edge of the border to give the Chartres Shawl an ornate finish!