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The tiered edge of the Cahokia shawl is like a step pyramid, upside-down, surrounded by a flowing river of lacy lines. It reminds me of the field trips I took as a kid to Cahokia Mounds near the Mississippi River in Illinois to learn about the thousand-year-old archaeological site.

This shawl is worked side-to-side from one tip to the opposite tip. It increases in steps, or tiers, to the center, and then decreases the same way. A garter stitch body forms at the top of the shawl while a lace edge runs along the bottom. Instructions are included to make two sizes of this pattern, a smaller, one-skein shawlette or a larger shawl.

A note on yarn: This shawl looks fantastic in solids, semi-solids, and variegated yarns in a range of different yarn weights, from light fingering to worsted. (Please adjust your needle size as necessary. Gauge is not critical for this pattern, but using a different yarn weight or needle size will affect the size of the finished shawl and the amount of yarn needed.)

The use of beads for this pattern is optional. The pattern includes instructions for beading two columns of the zigzag border and uses about 40 (65) g of 6/0 seed beads.

Sizes
55 (72.5)” / 140 (184) cm in length and 14 (19)” / 36 (48) cm deep at deepest point

Yarn
Approximately 440 (850) yds / 402 (777) m of fingering weight yarn

Shawlette sample (dark green) shown in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga (412 yds / 377 m per 4 oz; 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon) in Cuban Cockroach (1 skein)

Shawl sample (light green) shown in Posh Yarn Alyssa Sock (400 yds / 366 m per 100 g; 80% superwash merino, 20% silk) in You Can Find Me at the Edge of the World (2 skeins)

Needles
US size 4 / 3.5 mm circular needles, at least 24” / 60 cm in length

Notions
Yarn needle; 40 (65) g of 6/0 seed beads (optional); 1.25 mm crochet hook for beading

Thank you to Chinsocks, kaybe08, and krakengoddess for test knitting!