I think of this shawl as the big sister to Escalope – it uses five eighths of an octagon and a geometric leaf lace pattern to create a shawl that can be worn as a lovely small cape or a generous shawl or scarf that stays put due to its shaping. I finished knitting the original in Italy; “Ottavia” is a common Italian name and also means “eighth”.

This construction will be familiar to any who have worked top-down triangular shawls. The ‘tab-top’ beginning is similar, but there are five panels with ten stitches increased on every other right-side row (instead of two panels with four stitches increased on every right-side row). With slight adjustment to the lace patten, it can easily be knit larger.

Your gauge may vary slightly from the original. My test knitter had a slightly anxious knit and finished with less than 15 yards remaining. When swatching, bear this in mind, and use a slightly smaller gauge rather than a slightly larger gauge, or risk running out of yarn.

The instructions are both fully written and charted. Each is complete in and of itself. For cross reference, the rows are the same (within sections) between the written and charted instructions.

Many thanks to the fantastic goodgrieflucy for knitting a PURPLE project for me!