Two colours? Three? Fifteen? Twenty seven? Make this shawl as plain or as colourful as you like.

This shawl has an unusual construction, in that the cable panel is worked first. Stitches are picked up along the edges of the cable panel to work the lower border and the body of the shawl.

The sizing of the shawl is very flexible and it may be knitted in other weights of yarn. Simply keep knitting the cable panel until it is long enough.

Materials:
• Fingering weight yarn in one main colour (MC) and two or more contrast colours (CCs). Approximately 700m/766yds of the MC and 300m/328yds in total of various CCs.
• 3.25mm/US 3 circular needles with a 80cm/32” or longer cable.
• Another circular needle with the same or smaller gauge and a 80cm/32” or longer cable.
• Cable needle.
• 2 stitch holders or short dpns (or waste yarn).
• Tapestry needle to weave in ends.

Size of finished shawl:
Length 210cm/82.7”, width 50cm/19.7”, relaxed after blocking.

Gauge:
The sample shawl had a stockinette gauge of 22 stitches and 33 rows in a 10cm x 10cm (4” x 4”) square, relaxed after blocking.

Obtaining gauge is not essential, as long as you are happy with the fabric you are getting. Different gauge will affect the size of the finished object and the amount of yarn used.

Yarn:
Sample shawl used Trichromat Yarns Sock (80% merino, 20% nylon, 373m/408yds per 100g) in the colourways Sketch (grey, MC) and CCs Sacrifice (red), Butternut (orange), Preserved Lemon (yellow), Picnic (light green), Lagoon (light blue), Pelagic (dark blue), Arcane (purple) and Bougainvillea (pink).

The pattern is named after the colourful Rainbow Lorikeet, in particular an unusually friendly one who often comes to visit our garden and whom we have nicknamed Carrot (because a very excited visiting toddler couldn’t quite pronounce the word ‘parrot’).

For pattern support, post in the help thread in my Ravelry group.