Pretty Basic Shawl – Free Knitting Pattern Review

The “Pretty Basic Shawl” was my first big(ish) knitting project, having only tackled washcloths and a simple scarf up until this point. It ended up being more of a shawlette than a shawl for me, but that’s just because I messed up and started the border a few rows to early. This really is an easy pattern as far as shawls go, as easy as it gets. Maybe it’s just because I’m pretty new to knitting, but I had to frog this a few times because I kept ending up with the wrong stitch count. Eventually I smartened up and used a lifeline, which saved me a few times. For my non-knitting friends, a lifeline is when you run a piece of yarn or a stitch holder in a row so you can pull your stitches back to that point if you need to. Really helpful in lace knitting, but just as helpful for a beginner just starting out who doesn’t want to frog a whole project just because they messed up one row!

The yarn was really the star of the show, it’s so pretty! I used Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball – Restful Rainbow, and the slowly changing color really does all the work for you, slowly melding from one color to the next. It has a little bit of a wavy texture to it, which I thought might be a problem to knit with, but I didn’t have any issues.

Many thanks to Janina for sharing this sweet shawl pattern. The pattern is available as a PDF download via Ravelry. If you are interested in making it yourself, you can find the pattern here: Pretty Basic Shawl – Free Knitting Pattern by Janina Kallia Don’t forget to share your pictures of finished items on Ravelry, designers love seeing them!