Cloisonné Shawl Pattern

The inspiration for this shawl were some of the amazingly rich gold and garnet cloisonné objects that are part of the Staffordshire Hoard as well as the similar shoulder clasps from Sutton Hoo. The garnets in their regularly-shaped golden cells appealed to me and I thought that mosaic knitting was a natural fit to represent these ancient Anglo-Saxon patterns. Mosaic knitting also has the advantage of only working with 1 color per row.

This asymmetrical shawl begins with an i-cord cast on and maintains i-cord along the knit edges. The curved triangular shape comes from decreasing on one side of the shawl every other row and increasing on the other side of the shawl on every row. The pattern alternates between a simple slipped stitch pattern and mosaic bands. It is finished off with an i-cord bind off.

Beige & burgundy sample used Knit Picks Palette (100% merino, 231 yds/211 m in 50g) in Almond (3 skeins) and Rooibos Heather (2 skeins).