A shawl to celebrate one of the oldest rocks on Earth: Lewisian Gneis. These metamorphic rocks are between 3.2-1.7 billion years old and you will find them in the North West of Scotland. I am a geologist by training and I love to walk on the hills and beaches in this part of the world. Being surrounded by these rocks from deep time helps me feel grounded, but they also leave me in awe knowing that they are part of a vast tectonic zone that stretches from Scandinavia through Scotland to Greenland and North America – they give an insight into the formation of the Earth.

These wonderful rocks are typically course-grained, banded and grey in colour with dark grey, pink or orange lenses or bands. With this palette in mind, the Lewisian shawl is knitted in two-coloured slip-stitch bands and stripes by interweaving the three different colours, although you knit with only one colour of yarn at a time.

I-cord edges are knitted simultaneously with the main fabric and the shawl is finished with an i-cord bind off.

Finished measurements: 132cm (51 ¾in) along the wingspan of the shawl, 53cm (20 ¾in) deep.

Yarn: DK yarn

Materials used: 3 skeins of Iolair Yarn Easdale (70% Baby Alpaca, 20% Silk, 10% Cashmere; 225m 246yds/ 100g). If you are using a different DKply yarn as a substitute, the pattern would work best with three contrasting colours: one very light, one quite dark and one coloured yarn that fits between these two. The shawl is shown in colour “dark grey (augite-V6) (C1)”, “light grey (howlite- AJ1 (C2)” and “orange (topaz-AM13) (C3)”.

Gauge: 20 stitches and 26 rows = 10cm 4in in st stitch, unblocked, but exact gauge is not crucial.

Needles: Gauge-size circular needle; tapestry needle
For reference: A 4.0mm/US 6 size circular needle (80cm 32in length) was used to knit the shawl.

Construction notes: The shawl begins on one end of the corner and is worked length width to the other end. The combination of working decreases every 4th row and increases at every 2nd row creates an asymmetric, slightly curved shallow shawl that wraps beautifully around the neck and shoulders.

The main body of the shawl is knitted in a combination of a 2-colour slip stitched pattern and stripes of different colours.

You only knit with one colour of yarn at a time.

An i-cord edge is knitted simultaneously with the main fabric and the shawl is finished with an i-cord bind off.

Written and chartered instructions are provided.