Skillful Fancy Shawls to Knit

Yesterday I shared some simple shawl knitting patterns, and today I thought I would follow up with a few shawl patterns that require a little more skill (or, really, more patience) but are also really beautiful and great for the slow pace of winter knitting. A lot of them are from Berroco, it turns out. They really know how to make pretty shawls over there.

For instance, Knud, a fun capelet with a sort of slouchy cable shawl knitting pattern worked in a thick, printed wool that has a really interesting effect. Or Valdai, a triangular shawl with different lace patterns worked on the panels. Or what about Hydrus, a gorgeous beaded lace number that is voluminous enough to keep you warm even though it’s worked with really thin yarn.

I also really like the Pear Sorbet capelet knitting pattern from Marly Bird, which uses a skein of yarn and a fun little lace panel and a lace border for extra fun.

And then there’s the lovely rectangular shawl knitting pattern from Fyberspates (free download with membership at Love Knitting) that features an allover diamond lace pattern and looks perfect for spinning in.

See something that catches your eye? I’d love to hear about it!

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

When I discovered Kate Atherley’s book Circular Knitting for Beginners and Beyond, I wasn’t sure there was enough to say about circular knitting to fill a book. It’s a pretty short book (144 pages) and includes 10 patterns to practice working in the round on small projects, and it provides a decent introduction to the various ways of working in the round.

The book covers using double pointed knitting needles, flexible double points and circular knitting needles with cables. It talks about working using the full circumference of a circular needle and various ways to work smaller circumference projects, such as using DPNs, magic loop and knitting with two circular knitting needles.

In addition there’s a discussion of preventing problems like twists and ladders, swatching in the round without actually swatching in the round, grafting, blocking and weaving in ends.

More specialized techniques likes knitting from the center out, stranded colorwork, helical knitting and jogless stripes are also explored, as well as working pieces like socks or mitts two at a time.

There’s also some information about seamless sweaters, including the different sweater designs that can be worked seamlessly (and why you might want seams in your sweaters) and how they are worked from the top down or the bottom up.

There are 10 patterns in the book, including a basic stockinette stitch cowl and one with a deliberate twist, wrist warmers, mitts and a pair of colorwork mittens, a hat worked in a solid color or in helical stripes, toe up and top down socks and a beret. It would have been nice to have a basic sweater pattern, too, since the book does talk about working larger garments with circular needles, but it’s still a nice collection of basic patterns worked in the round.

If you’re already comfortable working in the round in different ways, I’m not sure there’s much for you to learn in this book, but it is a good reference for people learning circular knitting or who maybe haven’t tried all the techniques yet or need skill building projects to try.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 10 patterns. Published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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