Tess D'uberville Shawl- over view

There have been several interesting conversations about how to create a shawl seen in the BBC production of Tess of D'uberville.

That shawl was knitted, and since my knitting skills are rudementary at best... I never tried to knit it. I did look carefully at the photos and decided this could be done in TC, but put the project on the back burner.

Well, several days later someone asked this very same question: could this shawl be done in Tunisian Crochet... so I experimented with it and in only a few minutes had the answer.

First of all, the piece is a Mitered Corner Shawl in which the stitches run in the opposite direction of Mitered corner shawls that are more common place. It is this Stitch Direction that has caused all the commotion.

I could find no other way to duplicate this method, without first working a Square; then working the two Ends separately. Each end forms a Triangle that continues working rows of stitches from the square, but each row decreases along the top edge of the shawl.

Now, if you work all Tks, the stitch direction will look very similar to the more common triangle shawls. The opposite stitch directions will be more obvious with the Pronounced Ridges on the back of the piece.

You can work alternating rows of Tks/Tps (like in my sample), although with the Pronounced Ridge on back, you don't have to.

My instructions (in the next post) are written in such a way that you can insert any stitch you prefer, to create a shawl of your very own.

Check back here, or at my site: ChezCrochet.com for upcoming pattern booklets where I will offer variations on this shawl, with detailed stitching instructions.

These instructions and Schematics are Copyrighted by Angela 'ARNie' Grabowski 2009

Tess D'uberville Shawl

A. Ch 3.
Row 1: Forward- Yo, pick up a stitch, Yo, pick up last st. Return.
Row 2: Forward- Tfs- in Yo Sp, Yo, Tks, Yo, Tfs-in Yo Sp, last st. Return.
Row 3: Forward- 1 St. Yo, Tks, Yo, 1 St, last st. Return.
Row 4: Forward- Work chosen stitches up side, Tfs-in Yo Sp, Tks, Tfs-in Yo Sp, then work chosen stitches down the other side. Return.

Repeat Row 4 to create length.

B. These instructions create a Mitered corner square, as seen by the white lines.

C1. Once the Diagonal measurement of the square equals the length of the shawl (from your neck down). Stitch Up this side up to the 1st Yo Sp. Return.
Subsequent Rows: Stitch up side to last 3 sts. Tss2tog, last st. Return.

C2. When you have only 1 loop remaining- DO NOT END OFF. Remove the hook and put a Work In Progress (WIP) Clip into the loop. This can be a paper clip, pinch style clothes pin, a file clip (bull dog clip.)

D. Attach a new ball of yarn into the empty Yo Sp.
Stitch down this side and Return.
Next Row: Stitch normally- following your chosen stitch pattern. Return as you normally would until you have 2 stitches left (3 loops.) Yo, pull through all 3 loops (Decrease made- Dec).
Subsequent Rows: Ignore the Stitches within the Dec. Stitch down side. Return following instructions in previous row.
When there is only 1 loop left, End off.

E. Go back to other End, and removed Wip Clip. Insert hook and work classic crochet Single Crochet stitches or Slip Stitches across the top edge of the shawl.