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With its chocolate box cottages, medieval church and friendly pubs, Orford, on the Suffolk coast, is the quintessential English village. Fishing boats bring in daily catches, and visitors to the 12th Century castle mingle with birdwatchers heading to the national nature reserve at Orford Ness.

Just like its namesake, the Orford Shawl is romantic, bijou and full of beautiful details. The design combines lace with delicate twisted rib cables to produce a shawl that’s as interesting to knit as it is fun to wear.

This is the sister design to my Orford Cowl, released in September 2021 (pictured as a collage in the photos on this page).

Designed for a fade set of 5 miniskeins that move from light to dark, the panel and ridge construction lends itself perfectly to playing with colour. A miniskein set of different colours would produce a colourblock shawl, or a single skein of fingering weight yarn would give a more classic look.

Yarn
350m/380yds fingering/4ply wool or wool-blend yarn
Shown in Eden Cottage Yarns Carlisle Fingering, bundle of 5 miniskeins in colourway Thunder Fade (5 x 20g/80m/80yds 100% superwash superfine Merino wool)

Sizing
This design can be easily adapted to make a larger shawl. Simply work additional repeats of the Cable and Lace Panel and the Garter Ridges (the exact instructions are highlighted in the pattern).

Using Miniskeins
This is the perfect shawl for a set of 5 miniskeins. The sample pictured used 79g/315m/330yds yarn in total:

• 13g colour 1 (palest);
• 11g colour 2;
• 14g colour 3;
• 17g colour 4; and
• 24g colour 5 (darkest).

My miniskeins each weighed more than the 20g stated on the label. To distribute yarn quantities more evenly, work all garter ridges in colour 1 or 2. Alternatively, work the final garter ridge and bind off in colour 1 or 2.

Construction
The shawl is worked top down from the centre, beginning with a garter tab cast-on. The shawl is shaped by increasing sts at each side on right side rows. The cable and lace panel is repeated across the central section of the shawl, with garter stitch ridges between panels.

This pattern has been professionally tech edited, for a stress-free knit.

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