Accessibility statement: the accessible version includes: black text, san serif, 22-24 point font, with no italics, fully written directions, no chart required.
The Kākahu Shawls is a two one-skein wonder shawl collection, inspired by my experiences with traditional Māori weaving. During the last few months of 2020 I took an online class with Aho America on creating our first ornamental kākahu. As I learned the new techniques and skills, I was struck by how many of the weaving stitches looked a lot like knitting stitches. So I set out to see how I could translate these into knitting stitches. And thus this mini collection was created. Shawl #2 in this collection is the Māwhitiwhiti shawl. Māwhitiwhiti means “to cross over”. Like cable stitches, which I originally used to replicate the look of the māwhitiwhiti, but found that it is through a combo of drop stitches and cabling. The stitch created is called the whetū – the star. The Māwhitiwhiti shawl is a bottom-up crescent shawl, starting with the drop-stitch border up to the body, which is knit using an altered form of short rows. Fringe is then added at the bottom.
This is a free pattern that comes as part of a two shawl collection.
Link to pattern in Francoise’s shop.