The Lichen shawl pattern is both a set of instructions as well as a stand-alone art project. The imagery you see here and within the pattern was created by six different fiber artists, each of whom created a self-portrait of joy while wearing the shawl.

These artists of the global majority and I worked together throughout the summer of 2020, during various Covid shelter-in-place mandates. The shawl sample traveled from coast to coast, from one pair of hands to another, to spotlight joy.

Please join me in honoring the images each artist has created and to revel in Black Joy, Queer Joy, Trans Joy, and, most of all, the joy of resilience.

Things that will make knitting this pattern easier for you:

• Instructions are charted and written
• The pattern has lots of helpful stitch counts, at various points in the project, so you can make sure you're on track
• If your stitch counts vary at any point, I share how to make easy corrections
  

Finished size: 68 inches (173 cm) wingspan and 18 inches (46 cm) deep

Yarn requirements: 620 yards of sportweight yarn in two coordinating colors, or 2 skeins of in coordinating colors

Gauge and needles: US size 7 (4.5 mm), or size needed to obtain this gauge: 19 stitches and 36 rows over 4 inches (10 cm) in garter stitch, blocked

Other materials needed: Stitch markers, scale for weighing yarn, yarn needle for weaving in ends