Caroline Helstone shawl

This stole is the first of a forthcoming series of lace scarves and shawls inspired by Charlotte Bronte characters.

"Sweetness of tint, purity of air and grace of mien," so Charlotte Bronte styles her gentle and pensive heroine Caroline in her novel Shirley. So I gave this shawl the blue of pure air, the grace of a flowing leaf lace motif, and a few sweet finishing touches.

This is a large shawl to reflect the epic scope of the novel and because during my researches into Victorian shawls in preparation for this series, I was awed by the huge size that shawls grew to match the growing width of the skirt during the first half of the 19th century.  Of course you don't have to make it so large -it can easily be resized both width and length-wise. It is made with lace yarn held double, for which you can substitute fingering/4ply if you prefer (the doubled lace is a bit trickier to work with, but gives an airier fabric).

There are lots of changes of direction and techniques in this shawl.

I used a colourway called callao, but have listed just some of the other beautiful colourways available in the rooster yarn.

Also available as part of the Charlotte Bronte Shawls collection.