When I visit my hometown of Whakatane, New Zealand, I enjoy going for walks along the river bank to spy on which birds are out and about. There are almost always pukeko and shags and gulls, and quite often a flock of spoonbills or a heron. The Silverwing shawl is my attempt to capture the grace of a white-faced heron with its beautiful long wing feathers.

The shawl’s shape, an asymmetrical triangle, allows you to make a lovely long shawl from one skein of fingering-weight yarn. I chose a silk-blend gradient-dyed yarn for maximum drape and drama. The shawl can be easily enlarged if you wish.

Skills needed include simple lace knitting and a k2tog-tbl bind off. Both charts and full written instructions are provided.

Materials: 1 skein of Ozifarmer’s Ozimerino Soie (50% merino, 50% silk; 438yds/401m per 100g) in ‘Silver’, or 438 yards / 401 metres of fingering-weight yarn. To make the most of a skein of gradient yarn, adjust the number of repeats of the final section to use up all of your yarn.

Sizing: One size, easily altered by working a different number of repeats of Sections 2 or 5. Finished measurements, relaxed after blocking:
78”/198cm wingspan, 16.5”/42cm depth.