Striped Prayer Shawl in Plymouth Heaven - F146

Striped Prayer Shawl in Plymouth Yarn Heaven – Pattern F146

This free downloadable knitting pattern from Plymouth Yarn, designated F146 and designed by JoAnne Turcotte, guides knitters through creating a beautifully textured, generously sized Striped Prayer Shawl worked in the brand's Heaven yarn. Available free with yarn purchase, this pattern is an accessible and meaningful project for knitters who want to create a cozy, gift-worthy wrap with a rhythmic, meditative quality — perfectly suited to the tradition of handmade prayer shawls.

What Is Being Made

The finished piece is a striped prayer shawl measuring approximately 24 inches wide by 60 inches long — a generous, wrap-around size that drapes comfortably over the shoulders. Prayer shawls are a long-standing handcrafted tradition, often made as gifts of comfort, healing, and warmth for loved ones. The wide ribbed fabric gives this shawl excellent stretch, drape, and a soft, squishy texture that makes it especially inviting to wear.

Materials Used

• Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Heaven, used in three colorways worked together throughout the pattern
• Color A – Purple: 6 balls (the dominant color, used for the longest stripe repeats)
• Color B – Pink: 3 balls (used as a transitional accent stripe)
• Color C – Lime: 3 balls (used for the bold contrasting mid-stripe)
• Needles: US size 15 needles, or size necessary to obtain gauge

Plymouth Yarn's Heaven is a luxuriously soft yarn well suited to large-needle projects like this one. The US 15 needle size creates a fabric that works up quickly while maintaining the elasticity and definition needed for a clean ribbed texture.

Gauge

10–11 stitches = 4 inches in ribbing using US 15 needles. Achieving gauge is important for hitting the intended finished dimensions of 24 x 60 inches. Knitters should swatch in the rib pattern before casting on to ensure accurate sizing.

Stitches and Techniques Used

• Knit stitch (K) – one of the two foundational stitches in knitting, creating a smooth "V" on the right side of the fabric
• Purl stitch (P) – the companion stitch to knit, creating a horizontal bump on the right side; together with the knit stitch, it forms the ribbing texture
• K3, P3 Rib Pattern – the entire shawl is worked in a six-stitch rib repeat of three knit stitches followed by three purl stitches, repeated across all rows; this creates a deeply textured, vertically ridged fabric with natural elasticity
• Loose cast-on – the pattern specifically calls for a loose cast-on of 54 stitches to ensure the edge has enough stretch to match the ribbed body
• Loose bind-off in ribbing – the finishing edge is bound off loosely in the established rib pattern to maintain consistent stretch and drape at both ends
• Stripe color changes – colors are always changed on a right-side (RS) row, keeping color transitions clean and consistent throughout
• Introductory knit row for new colors – the first row of every new color is worked as an all-knit row, a technique that helps blend the color transition smoothly before returning to the rib pattern
• Weaving in ends – with multiple color changes across a 60-inch shawl, neat finishing of yarn tails is an important final step

Stripe Pattern Details

The stripe sequence creates a bold, repeating color rhythm across the length of the shawl. One full stripe repeat consists of:

• 16 rows in Color A (Purple) – the dominant, longest stripe
• 4 rows in Color B (Pink) – a narrow transitional accent
• 8 rows in Color C (Lime) – a mid-length contrasting stripe