20 Small Scarf Patterns to Knit Besides the Sophie Scarf Andolini Knits.

Listen, I get it. I really do. I love my softie scarf and I'm not making this video to bash petite knit or hate on the softie scarf craze. I do realize why this pattern is so popular, but the inevitable consequence of this is that it overshadows a lot of other designs that might be just as fun to knit and just as beautiful, if not more. So, I decided to round up 20 knitting patterns for small scarves, which all require 200 meters of yarn or less. If that sounds fun to you, please continue watching and, as always, before we begin, consider subscribing so you don't miss my future videos and also you can check out my latest knitting podcast. I want to start with the six garter stitch patterns I selected and the first one needs no introduction. It's The Simple Thing by Melina Brel and it's one of the most obvious and popular dupes for the softie scarf, or maybe the softie scarf is a dupe for this pattern. I'm not really sure which came first, but not really the point of this video to find that out. In any case, they're pretty much identical. This is a free pattern for a crescent-shaped scarf that is knit in garter stitch with I-cords along the edges and it has increases on one side. You increase until you're happy with the width and then you start decreasing in the same manner until you get to the end. The pattern has you increase or decrease every fourth row, but if you want to give your scarf more of a shallow triangular shape or just to make it longer, you can instead do it every eighth row or every sixth row, for example, just to, again, make it a little bit more elongated. It's technically designed for 200 meters of DK weight yarn knit on 4.5 needles, but in practice you can use any needle size you want, any yarn quantity, any yarn weight you want, especially if you want to use up some leftover yarn. Same goes, to be honest, for almost every pattern I'm going to mention in this video, so it's a great stash busting idea if you need to stash bust or you want to use a limited quantity of yarn. Just as the Sofie scarf, it's a really beginner-friendly pattern and it's also really portable, but to be honest, I wouldn't call it a mindless knit because you really need to keep track of your increases and decreases. For example, when I knit my Sofie scarves, I don't know about you, but, like, I need to do it in complete silence because otherwise I lose track and zone out so quickly. I just forget where I was and I need to, like, frantically count rows on garter stitch, which can be quite frustrating, and to be honest, I would always prefer knitting intricate lace to knitting a Sofie scarf. I don't know, it's just my brain is not vibing with this pattern sometimes. I always end up frogging back a little bit until I recognize the increase or decrease stitch. A lot of people don't see this garter stitch issue as an issue because they either use markers or regular row counters to keep track of their increases, decreases, but I would, I'm speaking from experience here, I would be one of those people who will forget to put a marker. Next, I have two garter scarves which are really similar to each other. The first one is the Thursday scarf by Nina Granlund and the other one is the Nova scarf by Not Perfect Knit. As far as I understand, they are both a variation of a traditional Scandinavian scarf design or, like, shawl design. This kind of design and these patterns in particular add such an interesting decorative touch to the more standard and minimalistic garter stitch crescent scarf design. They have almost this ethereal vintage feel to them. They are both knit in garter stitch, obviously, from tip to tip, and they have i-cord edge on one side and this really, again, beautiful and vintage looking picot edge on the other side. These scarves would look best in a really lightweight and airy yarn, and the Nova scarf, for example, suggests one ball of Cardiff Cashmere Classic, which has 125 meters. And the Thursday scarf, on the other hand, suggests Sutton's Garn Poppy held together with a light fingering yarn, but I'm not really familiar with the brand it recommends. I think a similar option would be Alpaca One by Isair. I used this yarn before and it's super soft, so it's going to be this really ethereal and just unbelievably airy combo, which will weigh, like, nothing. And both patterns are knit on 4mm needles. The other pattern from Not Perfect Knit, which is really similar but has more, even more of a vintage feel to it, is the Vega scarf. This is an hourglass shaped scarf that has wavy scalloped edges with i-cords on both sides and it looks so elegant. This one is also knit on 4mm needles and asks for one ball of Cardiff Cashmere Classic, but I think this pattern would look amazing in one strand of silk mohair. If you're into that sort of thing, if you can handle mohair close to your neck, I think it would look so beautiful and so ethereal. But the complete opposite of all these patterns I mentioned, and not in a bad way, like in a really good way, is the Super Fun Wiggly Scarf by Helena Wieser. This is a thin and straight scarf, and by straight I just mean that you have the same width throughout the scarf, but you're constantly shaping it with these increases and decreases to give it this super funky wavy shape. And it also has a double knit edge as opposed to an i-cord edge. And I got it, but it's not really my style. I don't see myself wearing the wiggly scarf, but I do really like it on other people. It looks so fun. I especially like the versions that use speckled hand-dyed yarn. I think it looks super beautiful. The suggested yarn for this is Drops Baby Merino, but again you can use sock yarn, you can use sock yarn held double, just do whatever you want. I don't think it'll look that good in, like, mohair or something super drapey. I think it needs this, like, structure to it. So something really bouncy like Superwash Merino or maybe bamboo I think would work really well with this pattern, but at the same time I also think it might be a challenge to use leftover, like, limited quantities of yarn for this pattern, because it does have a really wide wiggle repeat, so to speak. Maybe you can just go back a few rows if you see that you're running out of yarn, like, cast off early. So in any case it's a really fun pattern to try. I feel like we gradually increased the difficulty of our garter stitch patterns, and the last one I have for you is the most kind of advanced out of this list, and it's the recently released Jacques scarf from Laura Penrose, and I just love this pattern. I love that it's such an interesting and, again, more advanced twist on a really simple triangular garter stitch scarf. This pattern is not as beginner friendly or, well, simple as the simple thing, for example, but I think the end result would be really worth it. It's knit in two colors, the main color is also used for the icord edge along one side and the wider double knit edge along the other. Because you only use the main color for the edges, you have to knit your contrast color using intarsia. It's not as intimidating as it sounds, and I think this pattern would be actually a great introduction to intarsia if you haven't knitted before, and it also has video instructions, and to be honest, Laura Penrose's designs in general are so thorough that you are probably in good hands if you haven't knit intarsia before. This scarf is knit from tip to tip in a shallow triangular shape, and in the middle when you reach the width you want, you have the option to either switch your main color and the contrast color around to make sure you use up all the yarn, for example, if you want to do that, or you can continue using the same contrast color and the same main color without switching them. And also you can skip the stripes altogether and knit it in one color, so not do the intarsia if you don't want to, and just use this pattern as a more elevated twist on the simple thing in the selfie scarf. On the other hand, because this pattern asks for DK weight yarn, you can use sock yarn held together, and you can use up your leftovers of sock yarn for this, and like make different colored stripes using intarsia. In total it asks for about 250 meters of yarn on 4mm needles, and I especially like the version by Esha Knits on Ravelry, who used two different colors of sundae, it was one ball of each color, and I don't know, maybe I miss sundae yarn, I haven't worked with it in a while, and it's one of my favorites, so I might repurchase it just to make the jock scarf, and I think you can really tell that I like this pattern, you know, I'm really excited to knit it. But we're not talking about my knitting plans in this video, instead we'll move on to textured scarves. Do you want to smell some lilacs? Go ahead, take a little sniff. I know they won't really survive in my apartment for more than two days, but I still couldn't resist. I also got some fresh roses, so I hope you can appreciate the change in the background, but let's get back to scarf patterns. And the first textured scarf pattern I want to talk about is the Ruby Scarf by Celina Dewring. This is a triangular shaped scarf knit entirely in trinity stitch, with some garter stitches at the borders, and it's knit from tip to tip. I really like the knobbly and really dimensional texture this stitch pattern creates, but I always called it popcorn stitch in my head. I know that popcorn stitch is something entirely different, but it's just something I associate this fabric with. The sample version on the project page uses two balls of cashmere yarn, light fingering cashmere yarn. It calls for cashmere premium from Lang Yarns, which is basically a dupe for Cardiff cashmere. Because of how simple and straightforward this design is, you can make a really large shawl out of it if you want to, which is not really the point of this video, but it's an option. You can just extend the repeats and, like, increase the trinity stitch indefinitely, or you can make, again, a really small scarf using just one ball of fingering or light fingering weight yarn, and I think it still will have a place in your wardrobe, just because how simple but at the same time tactile and visually interesting this stitch is. I just find it really cute, and also it's not that hard to knit once you get the hang of it. And another all-over textured pattern I want to talk about is the Chahmat Scarf by Joanna Wiernecka. I really like the basket weave texture of this scarf, the basket weave stitch pattern. It's completely reversible, which is, again, an added bonus, and it looks so trendy and at the same time so elegant. The scarf has a rectangular shape and it has right triangle increases on both sides, so you just increase on one side of the scarf until you reach the width you want to knit in. And it has two size options, but they only differ in the amount of repeats you do in the straight section, so it's easily customizable as long as you account for the amount of rows you need to create this basket weave texture repeat. This pattern is really thorough and it has both written instructions and charts for you to follow along, and in general I thought it has really nice feedback from people who knit it. A slightly different checkerboard-esque pattern is the one used in the armor scarf by Anka Strick. She herself calls it the armor stitch pattern, and I really like the helical and really spirally nature of the stitch pattern. I think it looks really, again, visually interesting. The scarf itself is shaped like a smaller parallelogram and it has a straight section in the middle with increases on both sides. This pattern has three size options and the smallest one only uses 100 meters of yarn, but it can't really be wrapped around your neck. It can only be tied like a bow. I really like how minimalistic this pattern is, and I, again, really like the stitch texture, but I gotta admit that it's really stockinette heavy, so you really need to pay attention when blocking this so it doesn't kind of curl on itself. So maybe take the time to pin it out when you're blocking it and use yarns that are more lightweight and have some grip to them, because they will hold their shape a lot better after blocking. Something like superwash will really want to still curl after you pin it out, it will not dry into shape, so just something to keep in mind. Next up I have a really lovely thin scarf by Twin Knits called the cardamom scarf. It's a really simple and straightforward design, it's super beginner friendly, it just has two by two broken rib throughout, and it's knit on four millimeter needles. It has two size options available, but you can customize it however you like, because this pattern repeat is only two rows long, or wide, or however you call it. The suggested yarn is a DK weight drops alpaca, but at the same time I can really see myself knitting this pattern from a really summery yarn, something like sadness garden lena or drops bell, which are dupes for one another. Because of how sleek and elegant the scarf is, it can be a really nice summer accessory to wear around your neck, or around your hair, or maybe, like, tie it around your ponytail, so there are a lot of options with this one. And now we're starting to slowly move into more kind of lacy or eyelet patterns, and we'll ease ourselves in with a really popular design, and it's the Mara scarf from Audrey Borrego. It's, again, a really popular pattern, it's a free pattern. This is a triangular scarf knit tip to tip, it has different textures in the repeat, and it also has eyelet rows throughout. The edges are worked in an I-cord and the size is super adjustable, ranging from 200 meters to 400 meters of fingering yarn. And because this scarf is quite open, I think it's also going to be a really nice way to show off your summery yarns. For example, I'm working on a palma tee right now, made from black lena yarn, and if I have some leftover, I might actually do the Mara scarf in the same yarn, just to maybe wear them together, just to have, like, a complementary accessory to it, but it's just a thought. But going back to straight scarves, another really nice option is the Elise scarf by Suzanne Muller, and it's a pattern I actually knit a couple of months ago. So this is my Elise scarf, and you start with this triangle of increases at the beginning, and then you knit straight in this lace repeat with some garter and I-cord on the edges, and then once you're done and, like, happy with the length, you start decreasing in the same manner. This pattern calls for 110 meters of light fingering yarn knit on 3.5 needles, but I actually sized down to 2.5 because I wanted to use this sock yarn. This is a really lightly variegated sock yarn from my local yarn store, and I used about 30 grams of it to knit the scarf, and this is how long it came out. It actually isn't enough to tie around my neck, but I usually wear it as a hair accessory, so I tie it around my ponytail and just leave it hanging, and I really like it and do really recommend the pattern. But keep in mind that this pattern only has written instructions, it doesn't have a chart, unfortunately. Another straight scarf with absolutely adorable eyelets is the Silky Slinky by the Caffeinated Granny. It has a much more spread out increase-decrease rate than other patterns I mentioned, which makes it really slim. It's knit entirely in garter stitch with diamond- shaped eyelets throughout the scarf, and suggests using summery or plant-based fingering yarns. For example, Knitting For All is pure silk or Sadness Garden Tin Lina, and it's knit on three millimeter needles, and the shape described in the pattern, like the size described in the pattern, will use up about 125 mirrors of yarn. The next scarf on our list is technically bigger than the others and doesn't really fit the theme, but I still couldn't pass the opportunity to talk about it because I have been in love with this scarf ever since I finished it about a month ago, and I'm talking about the Ricca Scarf by Catherine Hannibal. This one is another crescent-shaped scarf with this really elegant and at the same time really modern eyelet and ribbed texture throughout it. It also has an icord on both sides, and because of the sort of ribbed nature of these repeats, you can make it much slimmer than the pattern suggests, and you can also go down in needle size to make it in theme with the patterns we're talking about. My big, or like per pattern, Ricca Scarf used 250 meters of yarn. I used Lanegato Camel Hair yarn for this scarf. In general, I do recommend this pattern, but it was kind of lacking in some instructions because it doesn't have a full chart for the whole scarf, it only has a chart for the beginning of the scarf, and then it kind of redirects you to the written instructions, which was a bit weird. It wasn't that bad after I got the hang of the stitch repeat, but at the same time I think it might get confusing for beginners who rely on the pattern to kind of walk them through the whole process, so something to keep in mind. There is a pattern that really reminds me of the Ricca Scarf. I see it as a more elevated and intricate version of it, and it's the Onda Scarf by Sally Knit. It's a more lacy design, and it has these absolutely beautiful flower buds running throughout the scarf with a garter border. I know the pattern itself calls them waves, and onda means waves in Italian if I'm not mistaken, but to me they really do look like little flowers or little super fresh new leaves or something. Maybe I'm just in a really spring mood right now, I don't know, but I just really like the texture of this scarf. I think if you use something super light like baby alpaca or something kind of fluffy, it would look really nice with this texture. It's knit on four millimeter needles, and the smallest size requires about 100 meters of yarn. If you use something like silk mohair, you can block it out to be really flat and kind of accentuate the lacy nature of the scarf, so it's up to you. This next pattern combines lace and cables, and it's called the Haze Scarf from Malin Borgerson, and I know I butchered that name, I'm really sorry. I really like this design, it's a really thin beautiful sleek scarf that to me looks really wintry. I think it's because of the yarn combination used and just the fact that it's a white scarf with cables, it immediately transports me into colder weather. I think if you use something different like summery yarns, sort of again like pure silk from Knitting for Olive or Lina by Sadness Garden, you can create a really nice summer accessory. But the pattern suggestion is 3.5 millimeter needles and sock yarn held together with silk mohair. As I said, the pattern is really sleek and long, but does have instructions on how to change your decrease rate to make it a more triangular shape instead. Apart from the suggested yarn combo to create a scarf similar to the one in the pattern picture, it gives you pretty much free reign on which yarn you can use, which needle size you can use, it's super customizable. And another stunning and intricate pattern is the Tulip Scarf by Manmi Choi, another name I'm butchering probably, but I really apologize. It has these textured nubs that look like tulip buds with leaves that are running vertically along the scarf, and it also has a cabled i-cord, not i-cord, but like cabled border basically on the sides. The pattern itself is super thorough and it has five different size versions and they all look really different, so the smallest version, again for the purposes of our video, only has these tulip motifs on the pearl base, so to speak, with a cabled edge. Some sizes of the scarf have a different garter stitch edge as opposed to the cabled edge in the small version, and to be honest, if I were to knit this, I would probably omit the cabled edge just because I'm not really a fan of how it looks. The design itself is beautiful, but I would probably switch the cables to an i-cord just to kind of elevate the tulip nub pattern a bit more. I just think that's how I would prefer it, but in general, again, I really like this design. I think if you knit it in something really luxurious it can really become an heirloom and a staple in your sort of accessory selection. A lightweight alpaca yarn or maybe a silk merino blend would also look really nice in this design, but I don't think it will work for really variegated yarns. Maybe something super lightly speckled would be great, and maybe a nice tweed yarn, but not anything too hand-dyed, because I think it will distract from the tulip stitch pattern too much. And lastly, I have two small lacy scarves for you with really similar names now that I think about it, and the first one is Tiny Leaves Scarf by Karolina Vasolic. This is a shallow triangle scarf knit from tip to tip in a delicate lace pattern throughout, and I think, judging by how the lace looks, it would be a really nice beginner-friendly project to kind of introduce yourself to lace. It's always nice to practice newer knitting techniques on something small just because the stakes are not that high if you mess up and need to start over, so again, really nice pattern to practice your lace skills if you're a beginner. It's knit on 3.5 millimeter needles and the suggested yarn is Drops Flora, which is a merino alpaca blend, but any lace patterns like this look beautiful in silk mohair, but again, it all depends if you can handle silk mohair against your neck. This is another pattern where I don't recommend using superwash or something super bouncy and really smooth. Open lace like this basically consists of eyelets and yarn overs, so it really needs yarn that can hold its shape after blocking, that has enough grip to itself to stay in the shape you created with blocking, and superwash will just bounce back after a while. Maybe what I'm saying is really obvious, but it's just something to keep in mind, again, if you're newer to lace knitting. And now let's move on to the final scarf on our list, and it's the Falling Leaf Scarf. I told you the names are really similar by Iris H. This one has definitely more of an interesting shape compared to your typical triangular or crescent-shaped scarves. It has a leaf lace motif throughout with i-cords on the edges, but this lace motif gives it a really wavy texture and kind of scallops your fabric on the sides. The pattern itself has two versions. One is for a smaller triangular scarf knit entirely in these leaf repeats, the other version is for a bigger shawl knit mostly in garter stitch with this leaf motif on one of the sides at the border. The suggested needle size is the biggest out of all of our patterns in the list, and it's five and a half millimeter needles. The small scarf requires at least 115 meters of DK weight yarn, or it also suggests fingering weight plus silk mohair held together in the same meterage. And the large needle size gives it a really open and lacy, almost like breathable, feel to it. It's really airy, but if you want a denser version and just a smaller size of leaves in general, and just the smaller size of your scarf, you can use smaller needles. And you can also go down in weight of your yarn and just use fingering yarn on its own, but in general it's such a stunning design, I really love it. I think depending on the color you choose, it can be interpreted either as a really spring knit if you use vibrant greens or blues, for example, or maybe pinks, but if you use more earthy tones or something auburn, for example, it can be a perfect fall accessory. So I just really like how versatile this design is. I really hope you enjoyed this video and you liked the list, maybe it provided enough inspiration for you to cast on a small scarf. Please let me know if I missed any of the patterns you like, maybe share the name in the comments. As always, if you like this video, please give it a like and maybe share it with another friend who would appreciate it. If you haven't subscribed already, subscribe for future videos. I wish you happy knitting and I will see you in the next one. Bye! It's been a couple of hours since I recorded the video, and I'm sorry if the audio is really bad, but I can't make this ---- up. I lost my Sofie scarf. I literally lost it! I tied it around my neck when I went out. Sorry about the lighting. I tied it around my neck and then I decided to tie it around my bag because it wasn't that cold, and like a couple of hours later I realized that it's not there, it's not on my bag anymore. So yeah, there's definitely an incentive to knit more of those kind of scarves.