I designed this garter stitch bias triangle shawl to be easy to knit and to require minimal blocking -- you can wash the finished shawl, blot out excess water, and lay it flat, shaping and stretching it slightly. You may pin it or block it out more if desired. The shawl should be easy enough for even a fairly new knitter. The repetition of three simple pattern elements makes for relaxing, rhythmic knitting.

This shawl can be knit with either fingering or DK yarn. The pattern is written for 420 yards of fingering yarn (and will use nearly every yard) but can also be knit in slightly modified form from 400 yards; the DK version requires at least 400 yards of DK yarn (basically two skeins). Instructions for modifying the pattern are included, along with photos of the finished pieces. You’ll find that solid or tonal yarns will give more satisfactory results than variegated yarns, unless the variation is quite subtle. Too much variegation makes it hard to see the eyelet pattern.

My favorite wool yarn for this shawl is Alegria by Manos del Uruguay -- 445 yards of wonderfully soft yarn, perfect for shawls. And because there’s more generous yardage, you won’t have any concerns about having enough yarn for the basic shawl.

I also love KnitPicks Comfy Fingering yarn -- a cotton/acrylic blend perfect for a lighter scarf or for someone who doesn’t like wool scarves.

The wool fingering yarn is knit on size 6 needles, at a gauge of 5 stitches per inch and the wool DK yarn is knit on size 9 needles, at a gauge of 4 stitches per inch. The KnitPicks Comfy Fingering is knit on size 4 needles, which will also give a gauge of 5 stitches per inch. All are measured on an unblocked sample knit in garter stitch. But because a shawl doesn’t need to fit exactly, these numbers are mostly to give you an idea of what gauge you’ll need to get a nice flexible fabric.

The blocked size of the wool fingering weight shawl is 57 inches wide (measured straight across from tip to tip) and 12 inches deep (from inner curve to point). The wool DK shawl blocks out to 61 inches wide and 13 inches deep. The cotton/acrylic yarn is not quite as stretchy, but it’s large enough to wrap comfortably, as shown in the photo of the salmon colored scarf.