This design popped into my head almost entirely fully formed when I saw Susanna IC’s Rose Lace Stole. Except that when I looked at the stole, I didn’t see rose petals, all I could see were strawberries. I tracked down the Estonian lace stitch used, called Waterlily, and it still looked like a strawberry to me, albeit an upside down one. With just a couple of tweaks (including changing from stocking stitch to garter), I had a shawl edging.
I decided to work the body of the shawl in garter stitch to help avoid the curling that comes with stocking stitch. I’m not usually a fan of garter stitch but I do love how it works in this shawl. It would be straightforward to knit a stocking stitch version, if wanted, just purl all the wrong side rows rather than knit.
The strawberry edging uses one of the manipulated stitches that are characteristic of Estonian lace. Three stitches are knitted together and then immediately increased to seven, which gives the beautiful curve to the top of the strawberry. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is but the pattern includes full instructions and, after you’ve done it once, it is straightforward.
Naming the shawl was also straightforward; it just had to be Strawberry!
Strawberry is now available from Yellow Ginger Designs and Ravelry.