Lace Scarf Knitting Patterns

Lace at a manageable scale

A lace shawl is a commitment of hundreds of stitches per row. A lace scarf is the same stitch patterns over 40 or 60 stitches, which means you can memorise one repeat within an evening and knit the rest almost automatically. That makes a scarf the natural first lace project and, for experienced knitters, the best kind of portable knitting. The designs here range from simple eyelet rows on a stocking stitch ground to full lace panels flanked by garter edges, plus stoles wide enough to wear as a wrap.

Classic lace stitch patterns you will meet

• Feather and fan: undulating rows of increases and decreases; rhythmic, forgiving and beautiful in a gradient yarn.
• Faggoting: a simple yarn over and decrease pair that creates open vertical columns and enormous stretch.
• Leaf and vine panels: shaped motifs that travel up the scarf, usually charted.
• Old shale and horseshoe: traditional Shetland patterns with strong wave shapes.
• Simple mesh: an all-over net that blocks out to twice its knitted size.

Choosing yarn and needles

Lace wants drape and enough smoothness to show the holes. Fine wool, merino, silk blends, mohair and slippery cottons all work, each giving a different result: silk has a fluid drape and a lustre that catches light in the openwork, mohair blurs the pattern into a halo, and crisp wool or cotton shows every stitch sharply. Go up at least one needle size from the ball band recommendation. Lace is meant to be knitted loosely and opened out with blocking; a tight lace fabric is just a scarf with holes in it. A pointed lace needle tip makes double decreases far less of a fight.

Reading charts and keeping your place

Most lace is charted, and charts are easier than they look because they show the shape you are creating. Read right side rows right to left and wrong side rows left to right. Place a marker between each repeat: if a repeat has the wrong stitch count when you reach the marker, you have found the error within ten stitches instead of eighty. Count as you go, and remember that in most lace each yarn over is paired with a decrease, so the stitch count returns to the same number on every row. Use a lifeline — a length of smooth contrast thread run through a whole row of live stitches every twenty rows — and unpicking becomes trivial rather than heartbreaking.

Blocking, which is not optional

Unblocked lace looks like a crumpled dishrag; blocked lace looks like the photograph. Soak the finished scarf in lukewarm water with a little wool wash for twenty minutes, squeeze gently without wringing, roll in a towel, then pin it out on foam mats, stretching firmly to open every hole. Blocking wires threaded through the edge stitches give the straightest sides on a long scarf, and a scarf can commonly grow by a quarter of its knitted length. Leave it until completely dry.

Wearing, gifting and care

A fine lace scarf is a good gift precisely because it fits everyone, packs into nothing and suits any season in the right fibre: silk or cotton for spring, wool or mohair for winter. Wash by hand in cool water, dry flat and re-pin the edges if it loses its shape. Store folded loosely rather than hung, since hanging stretches openwork permanently.

Lace scarf questions

How much yarn does a lace scarf take? Typically one or two skeins of 4 ply; work to the metreage stated in the pattern.

Which lace pattern is easiest to start with? Feather and fan or a simple eyelet repeat, both of which have plain wrong side rows.

Do I need a lifeline? Not strictly, but it turns a dropped yarn over from a disaster into a five-minute fix.

What needle size should I use? Larger than the ball band suggests, so the fabric opens up when blocked.