I’m obsessed with how this curves. Can’t wait to wrap myself up in it.

Best of all, it really does look like a whale’s tail, hence the name (paikea is Maori for humpback whale).

I fell for the yarn first; it’s so pretty, like flecks of gold in a pan of riverstones. Took me the best part of a week to find a pattern to do it justice - and does it ever. The stitch definition is divine.

Knitted in sportweight it’s BIG, and all the better for it.
After blocking, it’s 46cm deep, measured across the centre of the shawl, and about 170cm from one end of the tail to the other.

I was nervous about running out of yarn and didn’t entirely trust my maths so ended the third section 3cm short (but with 20g left at the end it would have been fine).

Super simple pattern; highly recommended for Knit Night knitting, but I did get very bored two thirds of the way through. Suggest for sanity’s sake you have something else on the go as well.