During the class, a couple of us in the chat were wondering about shawl shapes and how to wear them. Which shapes lend themselves to wearing without a pin? Which ones tend to stay on your shoulders and which ones tend to embrace the siren call of gravity?
I am a big fan of leaving neck space on a shawl. Having a gap allows the shawl to sit on your shoulders without a lot of fabric bunching at your neck. Here are some examples:
Triangles are notorious for escaping. This example is a bottom-up triangle (Damask by Kitman Figueroa). Most people make this a triangle. I, however, purposely cast-on so that I would run out and have a triangular notch at the top. Each of those edges is about 17 inches/43cm. That's a larger, deeper notch than I typically want, but it still works. Also, you'll notice that my shawl doesn't block into a triangular shape. As it stretches with use, I've found the shape has become more wearable not less.
From the mannequin view, you can see you get lapels rather than a single smooth edge. Some people find the lapels annoying. Others find that overlap to be the perfect location for a fabulous shawl pin. Either way, I find the triangle with a notch to be a much more practical shawl. I can and do wear this shawl. I do not have trouble with it falling off my shoulders. If the shawl had been top down, I would have skipped several of the early rows (maybe three inches) and cast-on partway into the pattern to produce the notch.
The next example is a rectangle with a notch. This shawl is top down. I made it before Ravelry when I was a very new knitter. The lace pattern is called Elfin Lace and is in one of the Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries. The yarn was some sort of acrylic from Jo Ann's. I cast on 36 inches/90cm worth of stitches at the neck. Then I established two increase lines between motifs, evenly spaced so as to divide the cast-on into thirds (12 inches or about 30cm in each section). The increase lines resemble raglan increases in a top-down sweater. To be fair, I did not know what I was doing yet got a good shape through luck. The perpendicular edging is about 3 inches/8cm at its widest point. I had to figure out how to turn both an interior and an exterior corner in pattern when attaching the lace edging.
The result is very wearable. What you cannot see in the mannequin view is how nicely this shawl hangs around my arms. It folds over almost like a bog jacket. And like Damask, the shawl shape has shifted over time with use. The corners are not really right angles anymore.
My third example is Penta Benda, which is a spiraling shawl similar in shape to Dreambird by Nadita Swings. This shape naturally wants to curl around the body. Consequently, it tends to drape in ways that are beautiful, flattering, and unexpected.
Overall it is a sort of doughnut or poncho — a circle with a hole — but with the circle cut open. On the floor it may not overlap, but on a figure this shape becomes more conical. In this example, the center hole for the neck is about 8 inches/20cm in diameter.
None of this is to say you shouldn't knit whatever shawl shape you want. Rather, these are some shapes that aren't difficult. Alterations can often be applied to published patterns, especially for triangles. I knit shawls and I wear them. I hope you will wear yours, too!
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