Lace Scarves to Knit for Spring

The other day I mentioned how much I don’t want to be knitting a sweater when the weather starts getting warm, but I also need a little help staying warm because I’m always cold.

Lace scarves are another fun answer to that problem, and there are lots of relatively easy lace and eyelet scarf knitting patterns you can try even if you’ve never knit lace before.

The Sailor Scarf by Knitleybay has a 20 row repeat, but there are big chunks of stockinette stitch in there are you’ll easily memorize the floral eyelet pattern. This project uses fingering weight yarn and it is stockinette based, so it will curl, but it’s cute that way (or you can add a border). Find the pattern on Ravelry.

The spring lace scarf from Palmeri Arts and Crafts is the one to knit if its still cold where you are (or you’re fighting overly aggressive early season air conditioning). This one is worked in worsted weight yarn with an allover design that looks sort of like butterflies. You could of course make it smaller and lighter with a lighter weight yarn if you want.

I also like the lace scarf from The Feminine Touch, because it shows you what happens to stockinette stitch when you knit it on needles bigger than expected. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn worked n size 9 US/5.5 mm knitting needles, which is great for opening up the lace pattern but it does fun things to the plain sections, too.

If you’re looking for a scarf that’s a mere suggestion of weight, check out the Netta Scarf from Masha Patterns. This leaf lace scarf is worked in an ethereal mohair yarn, though you could use something with more substance to give it a little more weight and warmth if you need it.

These days there are a lot of scarves that aren’t strictly scarf shaped, and there are lots of lacy triangles you can wear as scarves, too, like the Dew Scarf from Irene Lin. This little lacy mohair triangle is knit sideways, which makes it easy to adjust the size based on how much yarn you have. The pattern is available in English and Korean from Ravelry.

And this one is not a scarf at all, but seeing the lace panel called Fox and Snow Hares from Vicki Monthei is what got me thinking about lace scarves, so I wanted to share it, too. This design is based off a mitten pattern from 1892, converted into a flat piece of knitting. You could just keep on repeating the design to make a scarf if you like. Hers is worked in thread but you can make yours heavier, too. Find the pattern as a free download on Ravelry.

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

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