Marianne Kinzel’s Lace Primula Doily Becomes A Shawl

Marianne Kinzel’s First Book of Modern Lace Knitting was the last book that I bought at The Point last March before it went out of business. The book is a great resource of lace patterns with BOTH instructions and charts. It has an introduction to lace knitting including doilies which shows step by step photographs of how to start and read the patterns.

I’ve been looking (read drooling) at Marianne Kinzel’s lace doily patterns for almost a year debating which one to make into a shawl. Now that I’ve finished the Mommes Lysedug, I am going to make the Primula Lace Coffee Cloth as a shawl. DailyFibreKnit’s wedding shawl helped push me to the decision. The Primula design is very open and lacy.

In part, I want to test out the Sheep Shop Wensleydale 4 ply Longwoolthat I bought from Flying Fibers at the May 2009 MDSW. I have four skeins of 186 yards each in a deep charcoal grey. Since grey is a big color this spring, it will make a wonderful accessory.

The Wensleydale yarn has a wonderful sheen although to my sensitive skin it feels a bit scratchy. Therefore, I want to knit with this wool with its wonderful sheen before this year’s MDSW to see whether I want to buy more at MDSW. This English yarn from Yorkshire doesn’t give any indication of needle size. For Americans, 4 ply translates to fingering weight which is similar to a thin sock yarn. Since I want to make a shawl, I’m using size 8 needles.

Fingering Weight - Wensleydale Wool from Flying Fibers Primula Coffee Cloth as Circular Shawl from First Book of Modern Lace Knitting

Marianne Kinzel’s Primula Doily has 90 rows which a few knitters on Ravelry have extended. Looking at the chart it will be a challenge to do so but I am willing to test my charting abilities if I have extra yarn to knit. It starts with eight repeats and increases to sixteen repeats as the lace grows.  An eight repeat lace pattern is good for three needles since you divide the patterns into 3-3-2 across the needles making it easy to tell which is the third needle.

Happy knitting,
Knitted Yarns Editor-in-Chief

2 Responses to “Marianne Kinzel’s Lace Primula Doily Becomes A Shawl”

  1. Your post popped up when I did a search for Kinzel and lace based on a comment from a friend when I posted some pictures of the shawl I just completed based on the Primula pattern. Did you finish yours? I made mine as a semi-circle and am going to rework the pattern a bit to extend the center edge as a fold over collar and make it more like a capelet. I used size 6 needles, would love to know how the fabric turned out with size 8s.

    I’m very pleased with the first, but think I can take it further. A few pictures of mine are on our blog (mine and my sister’s) or you can find it in my Ravelry projects.

  2. jan

    I have both the first and second book. I have been wondering myself if they could be turned into a shawl. When you get to the last repeat on her pattern do you make up a new pattern to accommodate more stitches or just add more stitches between the repeats. I am an experienced knitted, but I have never attempted to change a round pattern before.

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