My friend Claire does historical reenactments and had just finished making a late 18th century robe a la Anglaise in a lovely light brown flowered fabric with off-white trim and under-skirt.  She lives in Tennessee, a state that provides several opportunities for reenactments, including during the colder months.  So a fairly warm, but decorative shawl would be the thing.  But what size would be accurate?

Shawls, like most clothing, were defined by their era.  In the early 19th century, women’s clothing was very light and unstructured (google “regency era” and you’ll see what I mean…)  Huge shawls became popular during that time by necessity.  However, prior to this time, women’s clothing was more substantial, so shawls didn’t have to cover the entire body.  They tended to be just long enough to cover the top part of the body and were sometimes crossed over the body and pinned in back or secured with a belt.

The next step was to decide on the yarn. I couldn’t use a synthetic yarn and had already been warned against attempting to work with linen.  And I could not find anything I liked in wool.  So I ended up using cotton – Lily Sugar and Cream in Ecru.  Lots of it – seven or eight balls of it, if memory serves.

Then I had to decide on the pattern.  I couldn’t do something lacy, since this was a cooler weather shawl and the yarn was too weighty.  I wanted a variation on the shell stitch, but larger; as usual, I ended up stumbling across the perfect pattern while looking for something else:

http://naztazia.com/patterns/crochet/accessories/shawls/crochet-beachy-keen-shawl.html

I actually did this shawl a while back and have just the picture of it in progress.  I didn’t add fringe or tassels, since those would have just gotten in the way; also, this particular yarn unravels easily, so doesn’t lend itself to tassels or fringe.  I’m trying to recall the hook size – I’m pretty sure it was 5mm.