The third and final pattern in the Fairy Tale KAL is Ali Baba – based on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from Arabian Nights. The complete story can be read in an earlier post, and I really had a good time converting this story to a shawl. The reason I chose this ruby port colour and a silk lace yarn was that it made me think of Persian carpets.
The gold coins Ali Baba found in the thieves’ cave are depicted on the shawl. There are also forty of them – for the forty thieves. Underneath is a set of gates, all with an extra yarn-over. This represents the first time the thieves tried to find Ali Baba’s house and marked his gate with chalk. His trusted servant then marked all the surrounding gates with the same chalk mark, so the thieves could not find him.
The second set of gates all have a missing yarn over, representing the chunk that the thieves cut out of Ali Baba’s gate the second time they tried to find his house. Again, the servant marked all the surrounding gates by chipping them as well.
And then along the bottom edge are the flames from the burning oil that the servant used to smother the thieves hiding in the barrel.
Finally, the shape, four equal quarters (which makes the shawl half an octagon) was chosen because Ali Baba’s brother was quartered. This may just be a little too much information if you ever want to show off your fancy silk lace shawl, so feel free to leave that out if you’re talking about your shawl. 
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