If you’re looking for a fresh but simple lace pattern for summer, why not try the Modern Twist Shawl?

This shawl combines simple Garter stitch, eyelet rib and a basic border with short rows, strategic increasing, and intarsia.

Though that may sound like quite a task, this shawl is broken down into 19 sections, each with specific directions on the placement of increases, short rows and stripes. Worked side-to-side, these sections create a circular shape that gives the shawl wonderful drape and a flowing, ruffled edge.

This shawl took inspiration from the beautiful, inspiring crepuscular rays that we see often here in the Pacific Northwest and the strikingly simple art of Josef Albers. The difference between the two, it seems at first, is that crepuscular rays radiate from a central source, whereas Albers mainly used parallel and perpendicular lines in his work. But, just as nature and modern art often have a deeper truth that we can’t see, so too have I included that little hidden truth in this shawl! Crepuscular rays are actually parallel – it’s simply our perspective that makes them appear to stretch in different angles. And, in that way, when the Modern Twist shawl is stretched long and flat (the ‘traditional’ shawl shape) the lines that appear to radiate are shown to lie perpendicular to the top edge, and are parallel to each other.

In much the same way as modern art gives new visual interpretation of classic themes, the Modern Twist shawl is a new perspective on the timeless art of lace.