Knitting

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Simple Shawls for Winter and Beyond

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I really just want to knit nothing but shawls right now. They’re so fun, and a great way to build different knitting skills with something that you can wear and use all year long (if you’re cold all the time like I am).

Here are a few shawls on the easier side of the spectrum that have caught my eye recently.

Looking for more amazing shawl patterns? Check out these crochet patterns we found on Etsy.

The Simple Lace Shawl from Lion Brand Yarn uses three panels of knitting, simple eyelets and a multicolored yarn for an easy pattern that doesn’t look as easy as it is.

The Botany Lace Shawl from Araucania (available free with membership at Love Knitting) looks pretty easy, too, and the ruffled edging keeps it from being or looking basic but still doesn’t add that much fuss.

Universal Yarn’s Stained Glass Triangular Shawl (PDF) is another pretty project using a multicolored yarn. It’s worked in tiers of garter stitch triangles, giving the project a chunky, warm look.  Looking for more Stained glass style knitting patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

And the Shadow Capelet from Blue Sky Alpacas (PDF), though technically a poncho, is a great little project that uses reverse stockinette stitch stripes for lots of interest and texture. I really want to knit this one in a bunch of different colors.

See anything you like? I’d love to hear about it! And come back tomorrow for shawls that kick up the skill level a little more but are still great fun to knit.

 

Looking to chat about Knitting and Patterns? Check out our Facebook Knitting page and our Facebook group dedicated to Knitting and Knitting Patterns.

Looking for more amazing shawl patterns? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Comments

  3. I have made the Stain Glass Triangle Shawl. It was lovely & my shawl loving daughter treasures it BUT, the pattern is incorrect. I found the pattern on Ravelry & there were all kinds of comments from people, who had made it, about needing to stretch the shawl (when they blocked it, which is a must with this shawl) to make it the right size. Bad. I then checked the stitches per inch against the supposed width & length this would produce. The pattern was incorrect & more diamonds need to be added in the first row to give the right width & also the right length because of the added diamonds. I contacted Universal yarns ( a very strange site) about the pattern being incorrect but they never got back to me. I also posted a heads up on the Ravelry comments section on this project. Don’t be put off by what I have written, just make the corrections, by adding extra diamonds to the first row (using stitches per. inch rule) & away you go.I also made it with the Poems Socks yarn & it is truly beautiful with its subtle gradation from one colour into another. It you think it through this shawl can be also made as a modular knit which will mean you don’t have to stitch it all together at the end. Have to work on a pattern for this I think.

Have you read?

Book Review: The Knitting Book

There are two schools of thought when it comes to instructional books about knitting. Either focus in one particular technique or kind of knitting (stranded knitting, say, or brioche) or try to cover a little bit of everything in a reference book that knitters will use throughout their careers. 

The Knitting Book by Frederica Patmore and Dr. Vikki Haffenden aims to be the second kind. The subtitle is: a step-by-step guide to creating imaginative projects for the home and to wear. I’m not sure it does that, exactly, but it does include a quick look at a lot of different techniques and stitch patterns you might use in your projects. 

A “guide to creating imaginative projects” sounds to me like it’s about design, but this book is not. There’s 1/3 of a page about altering patterns that only talks about how to add length to a sleeve and adjust where the increases go.

There’s nothing about measuring your body (the section on choosing a size in a pattern only suggests measuring a garment you already own), general garment construction, ease or stitch pattern multiples. The section on gauge (which is the last third of the page with choosing a garment size and altering patterns, discussed above) just says to knit a swatch, block and measure it to compare to a pattern, with no discussion on how you might use your swatch to design your own project or alter a pattern to meet your gauge. 

If you ignore the subtitle, what you will find is a lot of information about different kinds of knitting and various techniques you might want to try on your projects. There are 20 cast ons and 15 bind off options, for instance, all discussed before you learn how to knit or purl. (Another quibble I have with this book is the order in which things are presented, but that’s relatively minor.)

You’ll find quick hits on increases and decreases, twists and cables, lace, colorwork, textured effects like fisherman’s rib and brioche, loops, mosaic knitting, double knitting, decorative stitches, shadow knitting, bias knitting, mitered squares, entrelac and more. There are tips for selvedge stitches, knitting with beads, adding buttonholes, picking up stitches and more. 

A few patterns at the back give knitters a taste of some of the techniques included, but they’re not rated by skill level and the first one is a bias knit gradient scarf worked in six different colors of mohair, which isn’t a thing I’d wish on any beginner. 

And I guess that’s maybe what my issue with the book is. I don’t know if it’s meant for beginners and it doesn’t seem to, either. I feel like this book would be overwhelming to new knitters and doesn’t really give you a place to start or all the information you might need to do projects well.

The variety of techniques included is fun, and there are also stitch patterns in the back you can use on your own projects, but again it doesn’t really provide any guidance for how to design your own projects so I don’t know how helpful all of that is. 

I want to like books like this because having one reference that helps you with a lot of different things is great, I’m just not sure this is the one. If you can find it at your library or local book store and flip through it before buying, I think that would be a great idea to see if it’s a book that would be helpful for you. 

And if you have this book and love it please let me know! I’m sure it’s good for someone I’m just not sure who. 

About the book: 336 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by DK. Suggested retail price $40.