Sketch Shawl
Our free Sketch Shawl knitting pattern takes our new hand-dyed Estuary yarn as its muse and medium. Let the serendipity of this artful yarn lead the way as it creates dark, light, and medium shading, like pencil strokes that play across the page of your handknit fabric.
You’ll knit your Sketch Shawl in one piece, knitting rows of alternating horizontal and vertical garter stitch squares that grow into one great big square that you’ll fold in half to wear. You’ll join each new square to its neighbors as you go, so there’s no seaming to tackle at the end, and you’ll even work in most of your yarn ends as you knit… So when you’re done, you’re pretty much done!
Simple stitches really shine when your yarn is this extraordinary. Estuary is an exquisite mix of fine merino wool, lustrous mulberry silk, and a little bit of linen, which sprouts from the yarn with a natural flair!
This single-ply fingering-weight yarn relaxes and blooms to create a soft, fluid fabric flowing with movement, harmony, and balance. You’ll love every stitch that you knit with this yarn, and you’ll fall in love all over again whenever you wrap your Sketch Shawl around your shoulders.
Each color in Estuary‘s palette of elevated earth tones, including this classic Blue Tourmaline, is made by hand-dyeing 2 or 3 different colors onto a warm white yarn, shaded by the natural colors of silk and linen.
Pick up 6 skeins of Estuary to knit your own Sketch Shawl, a one-of-a-kind work of art that celebrates the beauty of freehand creativity!
Yarn lovers, if you adore the yarn used in this project, you’ll love exploring all of our other yarn collections! Discover over 45 thoughtfully designed yarns in nearly every natural fiber and in every spectacular color you can imagine. Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn store, where every skein is created with care and your creativity in mind!
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Hiromi Glover. See even more of Hiromi’s work on her Instagram!
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Want to print this pattern? On desktop, find the “print” icon in the right margin, and on mobile, scroll to the end of the pattern for it. Use the on-screen instructions to remove anything you don’t want to print!
Materials
- 6 skeins of Purl Soho’s Estuary, 65% fine merino wool, 20% mulberry silk and 15% linen. Each skein of this fingering-weight yarn is 384 yards/ 100 grams; approximately 2170 total yards required. We used the color Blue Tourmaline.
- US 4 (3.5 mm), 16- or 24-inch circular knitting needles
- Stitch marker
- Scrap yarn
GAUGE
26 stitches and 52 rows (26 ridges) = 4 inches in garter stitch
SIZE
Finished Dimensions: 40 x 40 inches square, with a hypotenuse of 56½ inches when folded
Finished Square Dimensions: 4 inches square
NOTES
GARTER RIDGE
A “garter ridge” equals two rows of garter stitch. It looks like a prominent horizontal ridge and is an easy way to count rows!
PICKING UP STITCHES
To create the cleanest pick-up edge, insert the needle between garter ridges. For more help with this technique, visit our Picking Up Stitches Tutorial and scroll down to “Along A Vertical Edge: Garter Stitch, Between Ridges”.
WEAVING IN TAILS AS YOU GO
To spare yourself weaving in dozens and dozens of tails, each time you rejoin yarn, we recommend knitting in the new tail as you pick up stitches. Here’s how…
Bring the tail over the working yarn at the wrong side of the work and knit the next stitch (“trapping” the tail with the working yarn), then drop the tail and knit the next stitch as normal. Continue knitting in the tail every other stitch for an inch or two. See this maneuver in action in the video below!
To see this technique in action, visit our Weaving In Ends As You Go Tutorial (and note that this is demonstrated on a different project)!
SCHEMATIC
NOTE: The instructions for Squares A–J are all different. The pattern explains them all!
Want to see it bigger? Download this Schematic as a PDF!
PATTERN
COLUMN 1
SQUARE A
Cast on 26 stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.
NOTE: Place a removable stitch marker or scrap yarn on first row to indicate wrong side.
Knit every row until there are 26 garter ridges on right side, ending with a wrong-side row.
Cut yarn.
SQUARE B
With right side facing you, slide previous square’s stitches to right tip of circular needles, then cast 26 stitches onto right tip of same needles (to the left of previous square’s stitches). [52 total stitches]
Set-Up Row (wrong side): K25, place marker (pm), slip slip knit (ssk) to join current working square and previous square, turn work. [51 stitches remain]
Row 1 (right side): K1, slip marker (sm), knit to end of row.
Row 2 (wrong side): Knit to marker, sm, ssk, turn work. [1 stitch decreased]
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until all stitches from previous square have been joined to new square, ending with Row 2 and removing marker on last row. [26 stitches remain]
Slip stitches onto scrap yarn.
Cut yarn.
SQUARE C
With right side facing you, turn work 90 degrees clockwise so left selvage of previous square is at the top.
Rejoining yarn and weaving in tail as you go (see Notes), pick up and knit (see Notes) 26 stitches along left selvage, starting just below last garter ridge and ending between first garter ridge and cast-on edge.
Knit every row until there are 26 garter ridges on right side, ending with a wrong-side row.
Cut yarn.
CONTINUE
Continue to work and attach squares according to Schematic (see Notes), alternating repeats of Squares B and C until you have 10 squares total, ending with a Square B.
COLUMN 2
SQUARE D
With right side facing you, rejoining yarn and weaving in tail as you go, pick up and knit 26 stitches along right selvage of first square, starting between cast-on edge and first garter ridge.**
Knit every row until there are 26 garter ridges on right side, ending with a wrong-side row.
Slip stitches onto scrap yarn.
Cut yarn.
SQUARE E
With right side facing you, turn work 90 degrees clockwise so left selvage of previous square is at the top.
Slip on-hold stitches from adjacent square (the square to the left of the one you are about to work) to circular needles and slide work so needle tip is at yarn tails.
With other end of circular needles and starting just below last garter ridge, rejoin yarn and pick up and knit 26 stitches along left selvage edge of previous square, weaving in tail as you go, and ending between cast-on edge and first garter ridge; slip last picked-up stitch to left needle tip, knit 2 together (k2tog) to join current working square to adjacent square, turn work. [51 total stitches; 26 stitches on right needle, 25 stitches on left needle]
Set-Up Row (wrong side): K1, pm, knit to end of row.
Row 1 (right side): Knit to marker, sm, k2tog, turn. [1 stitch decreased]
Row 2 (wrong side): K1, sm, knit to end of row. **
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until all stitches from adjacent square have been decreased, ending with Row 2 and removing marker on last row. [26 stitches remain]
Cut yarn and leave stitches on needles.
SQUARE F
With right side facing you, turn work 90 degrees counterclockwise so right selvage of adjacent square is at top.
Slide previous square’s stitches so needle tip is at opposite end of yarn tail.
With same needle tip and starting just before first garter ridge, rejoin yarn and pick up and knit 26 stitches along right selvage of adjacent square, weaving in tail as you go. [52 total stitches]
Set-Up Row (wrong side): K25, pm, ssk to join current square to previous one, turn work. [51 stitches remain]
Row 1 (right side): K1, sm, knit to end of row.
Row 2 (wrong side): Knit to marker, sm, ssk, turn work. [1 stitch decreased] **
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until all stitches from previous square have been decreased, ending with Row 2 and removing marker on last row. [26 stitches remain]
Slip stitches onto scrap yarn.
Cut yarn.
CONTINUE
Continue to work and attach squares according to Schematic, alternating repeats of Squares E and F until you have 9 squares in column, ending with a Square F.
SQUARE G
Work as for Square E up to **.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until all 26 stitches from adjacent square have been decreased, ending with Row 1. [26 stitches remain]
With wrong side facing you, bind off as follows…
Bind Off Row (wrong side): Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, remove marker, k1, pass slipped stitch over, *k1, pass first stitch over second, repeat from * to end of row.
Cut yarn and pull through remaining stitch.
COLUMN 3
SQUARE H
With right side facing you, slip on-hold stitches from first square of previous column to circular needles, and slide them so the yarn tail is at the needle tip.
With other end of needles, cast on 26 stitches, slip last cast-on stitch to left needle, k2tog, and turn work. [51 total stitches; 26 stitches on right needle, 25 stitches on left needle]
Work remainder of square as for Square E, beginning with Set-Up Row.
CONTINUE
Continue to work and attach squares according to Schematic, alternating repeats of Square F and Square E until you have 10 squares in Column 3, ending with a Square F.
COLUMNS 4–9
Repeat Columns 2 and 3 three more times, until you have 9 total columns.
COLUMN 10
SQUARE I
Work as for Square D up to **.
Knit every row until there are 25 garter ridges on the right side, ending with a right-side row.
With wrong side facing you, bind off knitwise to end of row.
Cut yarn and pull through remaining stitch.
NEXT SQUARE
Work as for Square E.
SQUARE J
Work as for Square F up to **.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until there are 25 garter ridges on the right side, ending with Row 1. [26 stitches remain]
Bind Off Row (wrong side): Bind off knitwise to stitch marker, remove marker, ssk, bind off remaining stitch.
Cut yarn and pull through remaining stitch.
CONTINUE
Continue to work and attach squares according to Schematic, alternating repeats of Square E and Square J until you have 9 squares in Column 10, ending with a Square J.
LAST SQUARE
Work as for Square G.
FINISHING
Weave in remaining ends and gently wet block.
Learn About Estuary + All Our Beautiful Yarns
This project beautifully showcases Estuary, our artful and exquisite hand-dyed yarn, in all its untamed beauty. A luminous single ply of fine merino wool, mulberry silk, and linen, this fingering-weight yarn is soft and lustrous, with just a little bit of wildness. Pick from a palette of earthy variegated colors, each one made by hand-dyeing 2 or 3 colors onto a warm white base… Knit swirling eddies of dark and light that catch the eye like light on water!
More Free Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our free Estuary knitting patterns and cast on!
More Fingering-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of fingering-weight yarns
- If you want to use a different yarn, be sure to take the time to get the correct gauge. Need help? Check our All About Gauge Tutorial!
More Yarns With Similar Fiber
- Shop merino wool yarn
- Shop silk yarn
- Shop linen yarn
- Shop hand-dyed yarn
Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
I would love the patterns for the shawl, please.
Sincerely,
Susan Reinhart
Hi Susan,
We are thrilled you would like to make this pattern! You can find the instructions for this shawl beginning at the ‘PATTERN’ section of this webpage. I have also included some printing instructions below!
If you’re on a desktop version of the site, you will find a “print” icon in the right column just below the “Save To Favorites” button. If you’re on a mobile version of the site, you will find a “print” icon below the pattern and above the comments.
You can follow the easy on-screen instructions to delete whichever parts of the pattern you don’t want to print or save. For example, you may decide to shorten the pattern by omitting certain images or the list of materials. To remove images, click the drop down next to the image icon and change from 100% to 0%. You can also hover your mouse over any portions of the pattern you wish to delete, and click the trash can icon that appears. Then, you can click “Print” or “PDF” along the top left of the pattern preview box to print or save the pattern!
I hope this helps and happy making!
All the best,
Gavriella
Love this. I’d like to make a blanket of it. Can you adjust the pattern for me? Thank you!
Hi Ann,
This shawl would be wonderful to use as a blanket! If you let us know the size you are interested in making, we’d be happy to make recommendations on how you can modify your project!
All the best,
Gavriella
I want to purchase the yarn, but would like to make it a little bigger (10-15” in width and length. Could you send me the adjustments that I should make and also the extra amount of yarn that I would need.
Could I add extra stitches and rows to each square?
Hi Kay,
This is a great pattern to modify, since all you’ll need to do is add or subtract how many squares you add! Each square measures 4 x 4 inches, so I’d recommend adding 3 additional squares to each column, as well as 3 additional columns of squares, to increase the blanket by 12 inches in both directions. You’ll need 10 skeins of Estuary to make a shawl of that size!
All the best,
Lili
How much wool do I need for a 50”x 65” blanket?
Hi Maureen,
The Sketch Shawl would be a great pattern to turn into a blanket! All you need to do to make it larger is add more squares per column, and also add more columns of squares. Each square measures 4 x 4 inches, so I would recommend knitting an additional 2 squares in each column (for a total width of 48 inches) and an additional 6 entire columns of squares (for a total width of 64 inches). And as for the yardage, you’ll need about 11 skeins of Estuary!
All the best,
Lili
Hi,
Thank you for this beautiful pattern. I’d prefer a hypotenuse of 70”. Thus, I would need a 50” x 50” square. In my mind, that would require 13 (12.5) x 13, 4” squares. Assuming that my math (not my friend) is correct, how much Estuary should I buy.
Thank you for your help.
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for writing in! Since each square measures 4 x 4 inches, the closest you could get to a 50 x 50 square would either be 48 x 48 or 52 x 52. That would be either 12 squares by 12 squares or 13 squares by 13 squares, and you’d need either 9 or 10 skeins of Estuary.
Alternatively, you could cast on more stitches and knit 5 x 5-inch squares and get an exactly 50 x 50-inch square! For that, you’d need 9 skeins of Estuary. Hope this helps you plan your project!
All the best,
Lili
I created a PDF version of the pattern for myself, including a coloring page with the schematic for me to track my progress on! This one is gonna be fun <3 Thank you for offering it!
What a fun idea!
I have a question on square B. After I slide the stitches from square A to the right side of the needles, how do I cast on to the right side of the needle and have it on the left side of the stitches?
Hi Becky,
Thanks for writing in! After you cast on, you’ll turn your work so the wrong side is facing you again. Once your work is in that orientation, your cast-on stitches will be on the left needle!
All the best,
Lili
It seems I could adjust this to make a straightforward scarf. Is that correct?
Hi Rebecca,
Absolutely! All you’d need to do is knit more squares per column to make it longer, as well as fewer columns overall so it comes out thinner. Each square is 4 x 4 inches, but you could also make each one smaller if you want more columns of squares in your scarf.
All the best,
Lili
I’ve been in a knitting rut lately. This is going to be the thing that gets me back on track. My biggest dilemma is going to be color! I’m even thinking about using multi colors. To much?
Hi Suzanne,
I love the idea of using multiple colors for this shawl! Let us know how it goes if you try this out–we’d love to see a photo of your finished project!
All the best,
Lili