Knit a Giant Shawl to Keep You Cozy

After sharing summer shawl knitting patterns the other day, I decided to go in completely the opposite direction for this one.

The Tigris Shawl by Olga Fahim is a big old shawl. It’s a triangle that measures 82 inches (or 210 cm) in wingspan and is 35 inches/85 cm deep at the center of the triangle.

It’s worked in stockinette stitch with a garter stitch edging, so it’s great meditative knitting you don’t have to pay that much attention to if you don’t want to.

The shawl has three color sections, including a solid section of each of the main colors and stripes that switch positions at the center of the shawl.

It’s a really striking look and not all that hard to do. This is actually a great way to practice how to knit intarsia because there’s only one color change in each row.

I love the combination of a sandy color and black on the sample, but of course you can use any two colors you want, whether they be high contrast or more coordinating. The pattern calls for sport weight yarn and here uses a camel yarn, which is a lovely luxury that’s sure to keep you warm all winter long.

And in case you’re wondering at the name, the Tigris of course is a river, and the designer says the fabric of the shawl is flowly like a river. Also using the name Tigirs is a little bit of a play on tiger for the striped section of the shawl.

If you’re in a part of the world where it’s cold now, this would be a great project to work on and snuggle under as you go. For those of us in warmer climes, it’s a great way to get ready for cooler weather ahead.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Olga Fahim]

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns.

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn.

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options.

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners.

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set.

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn.

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers.

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.

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