Interweave Editors - Classic knit shawls: 20 timeless designs featuring lace, cables, and more

If you Google shawl, the first few results are the usual mainstream onesWikipedia, Etsy, some clothing e-commerce sites. But then, Ravelry knitted shawl pattern listings quickly take over the page. I think its easy to say, knitters own the shawl in the Western world in this day and age.

Historically, shawls were functional layering garments, worn for warmth and in many cultures, modesty. But whats with modern knitters making all these lacey triangles and crescents and inventive asymmetrical shapes with short-rows and stripes and spurts of handpainted color? Something tells me this knitting craze has less to do with function or modesty and more to do with creative expression.

As an editor with Interweave, I watched the mid-2000s scarf trend ascend. We didnt have Ravelry then, but you couldnt miss the trend in publishing, in yarn shops, on the show floor of events such as Stitches. And then something else started to show up with more and more frequency... shawls. As scarf knitters advanced, and as they discovered lace, the traditional triangle flourished again. Evelyn Clarks gorgeous lace numbers in books such as Scarf Style and on the pages of Interweave Knits became hugely popular for us, and I walked many a knitter through their first shaped lace project on the phone, working on those projects. And then, in 2007, Ravelry showed up.

The collision of hand-dyed indie yarns, designers self-publishing, and knitters sharing their projects online made for a Shawl Explosion. We started printing more and more shawl patterns in Interweave magazines, as they garnered more likes and projects than other types of designs. Weve published several books that emphasize shawls, including my Free-Spirit Shawls (Interweave, 2013), some patterns from which are included in this very collection. We sell more shawl project kits than any other kind of kit.

To this day, knitters love shawls. I dont think its a trend anymore; its a permanent archetype in our pantheon. Theres no sizing; shawls use limited yarn, and they allow for such glorious explorations in color, pattern, and technique. Just look at the patterns in this booksuch a variety in size, profile, complexity, and graphic impact. What a fun workbook for a creative life filled with yarn and charts andpleaselifelines.

Im thrilled to present this collection of Interweave favorites; a good number of which are designs I curated for our knitting magazines and books over the years. And thank you to all the designers everywhere who puzzle out these patterns with their clever repeats and edgings and intricate charts. You keep us all obsessed.

Lisa Shroyer

Author, editor, and Content Strategist of Yarn + Fiber, Interweave

This book contains a variety of shawls from a variety of designers. As you'll see, there are many different ways to make, shape, and finish a shawl. Some of the more common methods of construction are covered in the following pages.

While the top-down is probably the most popular triangle construction method, there are other ways to knit triangles. The bottom-up begins with a small cast-on and ends with a long bind-off edge (see diagram below). A wingspan-down triangle starts with a long cast-on that spans the width of the top edge and decreases at each edge down to the bottom point. And finally, a triangle can be worked side-to-side, with shaping at one edge to create the widening, then narrowing silhouette. Well talk more about side to side shawls in the following section.

The Ennid Laceweight shawl () is contructed from side to side.

The Trillium shawl is worked from the top down and makes use of repeating increases worked within the lace pattern to achieve is semicircular shape. The semicircular shape of the Orangery shawl plays off the construction of a circular pi shawl.

Crescent shapes have a lot of flexibility. They can be short and deep with a strong upward curve or long and narrow with a slight upward curve. Lindsay is long and narrow, with a bottom-up short-row construction. The finished shape has a slight curvilinear profile.

Ship That Shawl is a small crescent with a more pronounced roundness. The garter-stitch body is worked top down, from the center out. Perpendicular panels are used to create visual interest.

Orangery, above top () are all examples of semicircular and crescent shawls.

Shawls with rounded silhouettes can be worked from side to side. This approach usually requires casting on a few stitches, then increasing evenly to the full depth, then decreasing back to the other end. The shaping can be worked solely at the outer edge or across the width of each row. Conversely, you can cast on the full number of stitches and create the shape with short-rows (see , below).

As previously mentioned, you can also work triangles side-to-side. By adjusting the rate of shaping, a sideways triangle can be short and deep or long and narrow. The Return Journey only increases (and then decreases) every fourth row, creating a long and shallow shape. The shaping is worked at the right-hand edge, allowing new repeats of the stitch pattern to be added every few inches. Madeleine features a more familiar triangular shape, with a deep center point. The increases (and then decreases) are worked every other row, so the shaping occurs twice as fast as in The Return Journey. In Rhoeas, by working side to side, the knitter can create a fringed edge as the shawl is knitted. See for more about this technique and how it suits sideways triangles.