This knit motif is found in Knitting Counterpanes by Mary Walker Phillips. It’s a title that’s sat on my bookshelf for a while and I keep saying I should work from it. I was given a large amount of kitchen cotton and realized that this would be a good reason to swatch!

The scallop shell is, as Walker Phillips wrote, “endlessly appealing”. It is simple, yes. However, it is attractive in a way that makes it exciting for a beginning knitter to work up and there’s enough knittery interest that experienced knitters shouldn’t get bored before the bind-off.

I chose this one because I was fascinated by a note in the assembly instructions. “This and other fan and shell patterns can be assembled as a series of fan shapes, or as squares.” Knitters are then directed to some further instructions for blocking. That caught my eye. A shell turning into a square? I had to try it.

I used a 4mm needle and worked the shell as written. The simplicity of the pattern is a delight. Once the basic pattern was established, it was easy to read the fabric and work until desired size. The 2×2 rib gives both knitter and the resulting fabric interest.

It was interesting to realize that the instructions call for reverse stockinette over the last 3 rows instead of garter stitch as I expected. The plan is to work the next one with garter and see how it differs.

This is a good swatch to understand the instruction style of Walker Phillips patterns. I scribbled notes on my pages converting several of her abbreviations to those I commonly use.

I haven’t yet decided if I’ll make a larger piece with shells, such as a towel, or if I’ll block four into triangles and create a square washcloth.

Details

Swatch is worked in Lily Sugar’n Cream, Colour 01317, “Hot Purple” on 4mm needles.

After a light steam block, it measures 7.5 in / 19 cm from tip to top of the fan border. The top of the fan (measured straight across) is 11 in / 28 cm from edge to edge.