This luxurious lace cape style shawl honors the spirit of those that fly - especially the silent whispering wings of the owl. The soaring owl is silent, alert, calmly efficient and represents wisdom and dignity.

Difficulty level: adventurous beginner on up.
Stitches: Nupps; sk2p; ssk; k2tog; make 1; yarnover
Type: Charts and Written instructions

Description:

Knit from the top down, the edging is knitted as part of the shawl body, so there’s no sewing or ‘knitting on’ the edging horizontally after the shawl is done - for either version. The neckline design signifies trees where the great owl is perched by day. The next section is the yoke that shows the owl in flight by night with its wings gradually spreading open wider. The shawl body begins with the neck feathers, then the long flight feathers, finishing with an optional ruffle edging that portrays the wing tips that undulate in the wind. Alternatively you can choose to do the flat points edging. The points can be as wide and dramatic as you like!

Approximate finished sizes:

Knit with worsted weight yarn , the finished shawl’s wingspan is about 183cm/6’ with a 81cm/32” length including the ruffle. (semi-circular cape style)

Fingering Weight wingspan 160cm/63”; length 76cm/30” with points edging. The blue shawl is made with fingering weight and shows the new options for a garter tab neckline and a flat ‘points’ edging!

Knit with 3/14 heavy laceweight, the length is about 71cm/28” and takes 900 - 1000 yds to do the version with the ruffle.

Materials

Straight knitting needles size 8mm (for the long tail cast on only)
Circular needles size 5.5mm at least 36” long (2 sets for the ruffle version. When knitting the ruffle, it is much easier to split the stitches up onto two circulars, the longer the better.)

5mm/8us for fingering weight version circular 80cm/30”long

4.5mm/7us for laceweight