It’s been a while since I’ve posted a pattern, so I feel like I should reintroduce myself. Hi—I’m Eliza. I write books and design knitting patterns. Sometimes I even design patterns based on books I’ve written. Like now: Ladylike Illusions is inspired by a scene in my Beauty and the Beast retelling, The Beast’s Magician.
The Story
Both my Dragon Magic Cowl and Magic Practice Mitts are inspired by previous books, and I love the holistic feeling of having both my writing and design working together. When I started writing Regency fairy tales, I wanted to design something that a woman in Jane Austen’s England would have made or worn, something warm and cozy for winters with inefficient fireplaces and no central heating. The shawls they would have knit would more likely be rectangular or triangular, but I chose a half-pi pattern because the semicircular shape feels softer and more elegant to me.
There’s one particular scene that inspired the flower and butterfly lace sections. Homesick, Isabelle is practicing the fancy illusion magic that her mother taught her. Thomas, the Duke of Harborough, has always viewed such illusions as frivolous and pointless, but he begins to see them—and Belle—in a new light. You can read the scene below, and then continue to more details about the shawl, and then the pattern.
When her tears had subsided, Belle wiped her eyes on her sleeve and opened the diary to the beginning pages. All the illusions that Mama had taught her were there. She cast her favorite, the one she had needed two full months to get right. A flight of butterflies fluttered into existence, one by one until there were two dozen winging around her chair. Belle watched them, smiling a little at the variety of jewel-bright colors and patterns. Mama hadn’t been satisfied by only one or two types.
A light knock sounded on the door. “Miss Morton?”
The duke’s voice made Belle sit up straighter, though she didn’t uncurl herself from the chair. She dashed her sleeve across her face once more, then called for him to come in.
“You weren’t in the library, so I assumed you were trying a new spell,” he said as he opened the door. “I thought I’d see if you needed…” He trailed off as he saw the butterflies. Belle watched as his mouth softened into a smile. His eyes held the same wonder she’d seen on Sunday. He took a step closer and held out a hand. “May I?”
Belle nodded, concentrating on one ruby-winged beauty who broke away from the rest of the flight and fluttered over to land on Harborough’s finger. Both held their breath as he lifted it slowly closer to his face to study it. The duke’s eyes found Belle’s.
“Exquisite,” he murmured.
Belle let the butterfly flutter back to join the others that circled her chair. “Thank you, Your Grace.” Her voice was a little rough from crying. She cleared her throat. “My mother used to do this illusion when I was ill as a child. I got bored and restless when I was forced to lie abed, so she’d set a flight of butterflies above me to distract me from trying to get up.” She watched a pair of sapphire insects drift by. “After she died, I used to cast the illusion for my father when his grief was the most severe.”
Harborough said nothing. Belle could feel his gaze on her face, and she knew he saw the red rimming her eyes and the tear-wet patch on her skirt. He rang the bell by the door, and when footsteps approached, he ordered a pot of chocolate to be brought. Belle blushed and looked away. She hadn’t intended to cause anyone more work. She wasn’t important enough for the other staff to wait on her.
Harborough took a seat nearby but not too close. He continued to watch the butterflies. “I never knew my mother,” he said at length. “My father was kind and good, and he encouraged me to pursue my dreams. I lacked nothing, yet now I believe I’m envious of your memories.” His eyes flicked to hers. “Will you show me another of your mother’s illusions?”
Belle allowed the butterflies to vanish with a glittery fizzle. The corner of Harborough’s mouth twitched. Belle closed her eyes. She was afraid that the spell-word for her other favorite illusion would give it away, so she whispered it to her knees. She could almost feel the vine growing and coiling up around her feet and calves, up over her knees and along her arms, to her shoulders and hair. When it had reached its full length, buds appeared, and soon opened into small, white, star-shaped flowers with yellow stamens. She blinked, careful not to move, and caught Harborough’s wide-eyed stare.
“Don’t move, Your Grace,” she said, and whispered the spell-word again. Another vine climbed his right Hessian and up over his tan-clad knee. His hand, which rested on his thigh, was soon twisted within the illusion, and his navy coat sleeve.
Belle’s smile grew stronger as she watched the buds on his arm open into flowers.
(From The Beast’s Magician by Eliza Prokopovits, copyright 2023)
The Shawl
Half-pi is a new shape for me. It’s a variation on the pi shawl by Elizabeth Zimmerman. (For a good breakdown of how the half-pi shape works, check out Andrea Rangel’s blog post.) The best part about half-pi is that you get the elegant semi-circle shape without any difficult increases. You end up with a pattern that looks really complicated while it’s actually very straightforward (as long as you’re comfortable with knitting lace, and the lace patterns I used for Ladylike Illusions are pretty simple).
The basics steps to building this shawl:
- It starts with a garter tab cast on, where you knit a small rectangle in garter stitch then pick up stitches along the side and cast on edge. From there you can knit outward in three directions.
- The inner rows of a half-pi shawl are short, gradually getting longer with each set of increases.
- As the sections between increase rows get larger, there’s more space for lace patterns to repeat, so I wrote them out by section—Flower Lace or Butterfly Lace. Between these lace sections are transition rows that include increases and move from one lace pattern to the other.
- The design ends with a garter border, and then the bind-off row.
Note: Because we’re knitting from the center of the shawl outward (or top down, if you’re looking at someone wearing it), the butterflies in the lace will look upside-down when you’re knitting, but they’ll be right-side-up when you wear it.
The Pattern
Needle: US size 8 (5mm), 60” circular.
Yarns used: Lion Brand Touch of Alpaca (medium (4); 90% acrylic, 10% alpaca; 207 yards/100 grams), 7 skeins of Purple Aster.
Gauge: 17 sts per 4 in.
Approximate size: 7″ (2.1m) along long edge; about 40″ (1m) from center of long edge to center of curve.
Garter tab cast on:
Cast on 3 sts. Knit 6 rows.
Next row: k3, pick up and knit 3 sts along side of garter tab, pick up and knit 3 stitches along cast on edge. (9 sts)
Setup Row: k3, p3, k3.
Row 1: K3, yo, *k1, yo, repeat to last 3 sts, k3. (13 sts)
Row 2 (and all even rows): k3, sm, p to last 3 sts, sm, k3.
Row 3: Knit.
Row 5: K3, yo, *k1, yo, repeat to last 3 sts, k3. (21 sts)
Row 7: Knit.
Row 9: Knit.
Row 11: K3, yo, *k1, yo, repeat to last 3 sts, k3. (37 sts)
Row 13: Knit.
Row 15: K6, yo, ssk, k13, yo, ssk, k14.
Row 17: K5, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k12, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k14.
Row 19: K6, yo, ssk, k13, yo, ssk, k14.
Row 21: Knit.
Row 23: K3, yo, *k1, yo, repeat to last 3 sts, k3. (69 sts)
Row 25: Knit.
Row 27: k3, sm, k2, (yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k7) x4, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k8, sm, k3.
Row 29: k3, sm, k3, (yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k9) x4, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k9, sm, k3.
Row 31: Knit.
Row 33: k3, sm, k8, (yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k7) x4, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k2, sm, k3.
Row 35: k3, sm, k9, (yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k9) x4, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k3, sm, k3.
Row 37: Knit.
Row 39: k3, sm, k2, (yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k7) x4, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k8, sm, k3.
Row 41: k3, sm, k3, (yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k9) x4, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k9, sm, k3.
Row 43: Knit.
Row 45: k3, sm, yo, *k1, yo, repeat to last 3 sts, sm, k3. (133 sts)
Row 47: Knit.
These next sections will be repeating lace sections. All odd rows are pattern rows; all even rows are the same as previous.
Flower Row 1: k3, sm, k3, (yo, ssk, k10) x10, yo, ssk, k2, sm, k3.
Flower Row 3: k3, sm, k2, (yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k9) x10, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k2, sm, k3.
Flower Row 5: k3, sm, k3, (yo, ssk, k10) x10, yo, ssk, k2, sm, k3.
Flower Row 7: k3, sm, k9, (yo, ssk, k10) x9, yo, ssk, k8, sm, k3.
Flower Row 9: k3, sm, k8, (yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k9) x9, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k8, sm, k3.
Flower Row 11: k3, sm, k9, (yo, ssk, k10) x9, yo, ssk, k8, sm, k3.
Repeat Flower Rows 1-12 3 more times (4 repeats total).
Transition Row 1: knit.
Transition Row 3: k3, sm, yo, *k1, yo, repeat to last 3, sm, k3. (261 sts)
Transition Row 5: knit.
Butterfly Row 1: k3, sm, k2, (yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k7) to last 16 sts, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k8, sm, k3.
Butterfly Row 3: k3, sm, k3, (yo, sl1, ssk, psso, yo, k9) to last 16 sts, yo, sl1, ssk, psso, yo, k9, sm, k3.
Butterfly Row 5: knit.
Butterfly Row 7: k3, sm, k8, (yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k7) to last 10 sts, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k2, sm, k3.
Butterfly Row 9: k3, sm, k9, (yo, sl1, ssk, psso, yo, k9) to last 10 sts, yo, sl1, ssk, psso, yo, k3, sm, k3.
Butterfly Row 11: Knit.
Repeat Butterfly Rows 1-12 7 more times (8 repeats total).
Repeat Butterfly Rows 1-6 1 more time.
Increase Row: k3, sm, yo, *k1, yo, repeat to last 3, sm, k3. (517 sts)
Transition Row: Knit.
Repeat Flower Rows 1-12 once more (2 repeats total).
Next 5 Rows: knit.
Final Row: knit and bind off all stitches.
Did you knit Ladylike Illusions? Tag me (@elizaprokopovits) on Instagram or email me a photo (eliza@squigglidinks.com) so I can see your work!
