This shawl was inspired by the two “Cardinal” colourways in the Love Birds collection from SONGBIRD YARN AND FIBRES. The shawl is shaped like a wing; the two simple chevron stitch motifs resemble feathers, and the points on the scalloped edge of the shawl are evocative of the cardinals’ crests.

The larger, two-skein shawl starts with a few stitches and the colours of the male plumage. The shawl grows in size with a double increase at the beginning of every right-side row and a single decrease at the beginning of every wrong-side row, which creates the asymmetrical, triangular (or boomerang) shape of the shawl. Alternating colourways for several rows creates a fade between the colours, and the shawl ends with a wide border in the colours of the female plumage.

The small shawl was knit in a similar manner (without the fade section, and with a narrower border) in the “Pyrrhuloxia” colourway. The Pyrrhuloxia, often called a Desert Cardinal, is closely related to the Northern Cardinal, but has more subdued colouring. The simple shaping and uncomplicated stitch motifs n this design would lend themselves to knitting the shawl in many different yarn types and sizes; some pointers are given in the notes to help you with that.

The techniques you will need to know, or learn, to complete this project are:

• cast on and lace bind off;
• knit and purl;
• yo increase;
• kyok double increase,
• k2tog decrease;
• ssk decrease;
• cdd double decrease.