Learn How to Knit the Grotto Scarf/Shawl – FREE Pattern & Easy Tutorial! Cozy Elegance All Seasons!

Hey everyone, today I am so excited to share my new free knitting pattern, the grotto shawl slash lace scarf. This is the perfect project if you're looking for a cozy, stylish accessory that's both practical I made this while trying out the so-called cashmere yarn that I picked up during my Timu haul. If you haven't seen that video yet, make sure to go check it out and find out whether this yarn turned out to be real cashmere or not. The link to the video is in the description. But first, don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss out on any of these free patterns that I release. So I designed the grotto shawl to be wide and short, making it perfect for those who prefer I prefer. a cozy neck cover without the hassle of wrapping a traditional scarf. And then it's shorter to keep the bulk down under your winter coat because No one likes fighting with their scarf when it's freezing outside. This can also be used as a lightweight shawl for warmer months, providing just the right amount of coverage to keep you comfortable if it's breezy or in air conditioned spaces. I don't know about you, but I'm the kind of person who always comes prepared with an extra layer no matter what time of year because I get cold very easily. This pattern is super beginner friendly, featuring an easy stockinette stitch With a very simple lace edge repeat to help you expand your skill set. Don't worry though, I'll walk you through the entire lace repeat in this video step by step. I'm also going to give you some tips at the end of the video on how to adjust the size as well as giving you a slight modification if you don't like this rolled edge that I've created. For our materials you'll need about 800 yards of DK weight yarn and a US size 2.5 or 3 millimeter needles. grab the free pattern and the materials linked in the description and let's get started. so for our first row repeat of our six row repeat you'll notice in the chart that each row you're going to add one knit or one purl before you do a yarn over and it's going to be based off of your row repeat. so for this one we have the first row so we're going to do one knit stitch Then we're going to yarn over and then every single row is the same. It's going to be three stitches so whether it's knit or purl depending on what side you're on. So we have three knits. Then we're going to start to do our decreasing. So to decrease on this one we're doing a slip slip knit. So we're going to slip as if to knit, slip as if to knit, Then we're going to put our needle back through kind of as a purl. You can either pull your needle out. I like to save time and I keep my needle in there because you're going to put it back in and you're going to knit through that back loop taking those two stitches off. And that's going to create a left leaning decrease which gives us this look coming into the lace pattern. After that decrease, now we are gonna knit 10. So we're gonna create just 10 basic knits. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Nine. And you'll notice, if you look at the chart, each row we're gonna decrease by two stitches, those middle stitches between our... Our left-leaning decrease and our right-leaning decrease. So now we're going to do our right-leaning decrease, which is going to be a knit two together. So we're going to slide those near the end, and instead of just knitting one, we're going to insert from the left and grab both of those and then do a regular knit, but we're taking both of those down. So that's a knit two together, and that gives us... Our left leaning decrease so that we have this kind of arrow going all the way up. Then, for the end, we're going to kind of mimic what we did at the beginning here. We're going to do three stitches, so three knit stitches in this case because we're on our knit side. We're going to yarn over and then we're going to do one more knit stitch and that should bring you to your stitch marker that you placed on your very first row. When you are working that very first row you're going to do those exact same stitches, place your stitch marker and this is going to help you mostly when you're on your purl side which I'll explain when we get there. But the rest of these stitches are all basic knit stitches. So the rest of row one is just going to be knitting all the way across. So continue on and then we'll come to row two. Okay, so I'm going to begin my row two repeat now to get the stockinette. Look we have to purl across this time. You could do garter stitch so you would end up looking like this side instead of the stockinette side if you really hate to purl. If you don't mind, I like the stockinette. It's a little bit more dainty. You will have to do purling though in the lace section for it to look right. You cannot do garter in the lace section which I'll show you where that would begin. if you wanted to do a garter stitch on the base of the wrap so to begin with row two we are just going to purl all the way across to our stitch marker so that is why we place the stitch marker so that we don't have to count all of these stitches once we get there then we know that it is lace time so Head across until you get to that stitch marker and we'll begin the row two lace instructions. Okay here I am with the Row two lace portion, I've got one stitch left to purl before I hit my stitch marker, then I'm going to slide my stitch marker over, and now I'm going to begin the purl section, or the purl lacing section. So like I said on the last row, we are increasing the number of stitches before our yarn over that match the row we're on. So we're on row two, so we're going to We're going to do two pearls this time and you'll notice this will be kind of your A hint that you're in the right track, the yarn over should be that stitch before you do your next yarn over. So yarn overs look very different, it's just laying over your stitch, it doesn't look like a normal stitch, so be sure that you don't lose those because you need to work into them. So we're going to do a second purl and now we're going to yarn over so we can do our three purls, so our So we're going to do our three stitches before our decreasing. Always the same every single row, always doing three stitches before the decrease. Now we're going to do the opposite of what we did on the right side or the knit stitch side. We're going to do our right leaning decrease with a purl two together. So remember that the last decrease of the row was a knit two together, so we're doing a purl two together. To mirror that leaning so that we get the right lean on the front of our project. So to do that two purl together, or purl two together, put your yarn in the front, you're going to insert your needle as if to purl, but you're going to catch both stitches. So the next two stitches, then you're going to finish your purl off. Slide that off. So we did 10 stitches last time between our two decreases, and I said we would decrease that by two stitches. So that means we're doing eight purls or eight stitches on this row. So we're going to do eight total. Two, three, four, five, six. seven eight and now we are going to do the knitters bane of their existence a slip slip purl this is one of the most difficult decreases in knitting but once you master it you're going to feel very accomplished so do not give up please you can definitely do this so to do this you are going to slip as if to knit two stitches Then we're going to put our needle back in just kind of like a slip slip knit but instead of knitting through the back loop we have to purl through the back loop and this is what most people do not like to do. So purling through the back loop entails bringing our yarn to the front and instead of going through our stitches just kind of like a purl in the back we have to come Come around to be able to actually do this stitch. So we need to come through. both of those two stitches and once you get used to it it'll be very kind of normal but to begin with it's a little difficult so let me turn my work a little here's our two back loops we need to come now from if we're looking at this side to the right and come through both of those stitches to catch them sometimes if you knit kind of tight you might need to pull down to open up those two two stitches to be able to reach through them easily so You kind of feel along your needle, just kind of run your needle along and work on getting it between those two stitches. You should be able to see your needle between those two and know that you caught both of them. So once you are through you're gonna Yarn over for your purl, and then bring it back through, and I find bringing it kind of diagonally back through is the easiest way, and I usually will pull a little bit when I pull those off because all that tugging and trying to get through, I usually end up having quite a bit of yarn on my needle, so I give it just, make sure that I'm, you know, kind of getting my yarn the same size as everything else when I take that stitch off. We'll go through that stitch again on row four, but we're going to continue on. So now we're going to have three more purls, or three stitches, on the other side of the decrease. And we should have two stitches left. We've got our two, because we're on row two, we're going to yarn over. That is our yarn over here. So remember, we're on the right track if we have that yarn over as our stitch next to our yarn over. And one last purl. All right we are ready for row three. All right row three so now we are going to be starting with three stitches before our yarn over because we're on row three like I said the last two rows so here's one two and three and remember that's our yarn over so we're on the right track then we're gonna yarn over and we're gonna stitch three more this time as usual always three stitches after the yarn over. Then for our decrease, it's going to be our slip, slip, knit, so slip as if to knit, slip as if to knit, bring your needle like you're purling back through, and you can just catch that yarn and bring it through, so there's our right leaning decrease, now we're on row three, we're taking two more stitches off, so now we have six stitches between our increase, so we're going to do one, two, three, 4, 5, 6, usually I think about here, I memorize the repeat, so you should hopefully be able to repeat with these little tricks that I'm telling you. Then, and this happens a lot on this stitch for some reason, the two stitches like to cross over each other, so kind of pull them apart gently before you start, just to make sure you don't have an extra stitch in there, it happens almost every single time to me, So if you see like... Come stitches that are kind of over each other just kind of pull them apart a little to make sure you're not losing any stitch when you go to do your next decrease which is our knit two together or our left leaning decrease. So again we're going to come from the left side as if to knit a stitch but we're grabbing two stitches at the same time. Yarning and taking that off. Now we have three stitches on the other side of our decrease. Three knits. We're going to do our yarn over and you'll see here's our yarn over right here so we know we're we haven't lost anything we're still going good. You'll see this kind of crossed over as well just give it a little pull apart to make sure you still have the right amount of stitches which should be three because you're on row three and knit those three off and you're at your stitch So then we're just going to knit all the way across like the last time so go ahead and do that and then we're actually going to come back because you know to purl all the way across to your stitch marker on row four and we'll just start up with the row four lace so I'll see you in a bit. Okay here we are at the row four lace portion we're gonna slide our stitch marker and start our So we're gonna start our stitches. So this is row four. So we're gonna do four purls to begin with. One. Two, three, there's our yarn over, so we know we're at four. We're gonna yarn over and do our next three stitches, so three purls, and then we can start our decrease. So on this side, we start with a purl two together because the last one we did was a knit two together. So we're gonna go from right to left and catch two of those stitches, and then purl those off. Now we're on row 4, so we had 6 stitches last time, so we're going to take 2 ways, so now we're going to have 4. So row 4, you have 4. It makes it a little easier to know you're on track. So we're going to do 4 purls, and then our fun slip slip purl. So again, take this one a little slower, we will slip as if to knit, slip as if to knit, put our needle back through, missed one of my strands, here we go. Now, oh I still missed a strand, make sure you get all your strands in there. So I'm going to pull down on this so I can give myself room to get through those stitches. I'm going to bring my yarn to the front, I'm going to slide along my needle to get through those two stitches, and then purl, so we're going to go back through kind of at a diagonal to get through that easy. Pull a little bit so that it's getting nice and tight with the rest of the stitches. Don't pull too tight. You don't want to make it super tight, but just enough so that it's not super slacky and slide those off. Remember we did a decrease, so now we're going to do our three stitches on the other side of the decrease. One, two, and three. We should have a yarn over next. So we are good. We're going to yarn over and then we have four stitches because we're on row four. And you'll notice, I kind of talked about it at the beginning, I haven't talked about it yet while working this, but I have two strands put together, so I have the cashmere, and then I have kind of a stabilizing yarn is what I've been told that is for, so I was trying it out in this whole project, and I'm also going to do a swatch with this yarn without it, so that you can go and watch the review of this yarn as I see how I liked it. using it in this project so make sure you stay tuned for that video hit the notification bell to see it but um it's a little extra cumbersome because sometimes you'll split between those two but if it makes a big difference i will think it's very worth it so here we are on row five so we are going to do our row five lace so again we have row five so we're gonna do five stitches three four and here's our yarn over five then we have three stitches one two three time for our first decrease which is our slip slip knit so to the left side taking it off as a knit as off to knit and turn back in like a purl from the left side and then yarning over and pulling those two We're on row five. Our last two or our last stitches between our decreases was four, so now we have two. So we're going to knit two and we're already ready for our knit two together. So we get our next two stitches, come from the left as if to knit and get through both of those loops, yarn over and bring those off. Then we're doing our three stitches on the other side of the decrease. Here is our yarn over so we're good so we're yarning over and we're going to knit five off because we are on row five. All right and now you know the drill knit across and purl back across and we'll come back to the stitch marker for our sixth and final repeat row. Okay here we are on row six the final repeat so as usual we are going to do the amount of stitches for the row that we're on so six total. Which should have us on our yarn over. So here's our yarn over. Then we are going to do our yarn over and do three more stitches. Then we are going to do our decrease, our first one, which is our purl two together. And if you remember, we had two stitches on the last row. So because of that we have zero stitches in between our decreases this time so we're going straight from our purl two together to our slip slip purl. So again we slip as if to knit, slip as if to knit, enter back those stitches, give it a little pull so you have room, bring your yarn to Come around, and you'll see I kind of hold onto them with my fingers so they don't accidentally slide off while I'm trying to do all of this, and then finish off that purl and slide those off. Then, because of that decrease, we're going to do our three stitches on the other side, and then we'll have six left, so we yarn over and there's our other yarn over from the row below, and we have six stitches to finish off. Three, five, and six. That is the full six stitch repeat. That's going to get you from here to here. So now what you're going to do is continue that on until your piece measures about 32 inches. You know, don't get too caught up on that. You'll gain some length with your blocking because this is not blocked yet. So keep that in mind if you're getting close to running out of yarn. Don't worry, you can probably block it out an inch or two. So once you're finished you're going to pull your project off the needles and it's going to look like this. Not great. Rolled edges on the end, the lace kind of bunched up, even the rolled edge that is purposeful is not looking great. So we are going to block this to make it look better. So we're just going to throw it into a bowl. I do just plain water when I'm blocking because it's not dirty yet so I don't need special wash. So I'm going to let that sit for about 10 minutes to let the yarn bloom and then we are going to get it onto our blocking mat. So here we are on the blocking mat. I used lace wires even though this is a straight edge project because it will help make it just that much more neater as you're blocking. I'll link to the blocking mat, the lace wires, and the blocking pins that I'm using in the description below, but you can see by kind of getting the edges of everything and pulling it out it will give us that really nice finished look. to the entire shawl we just and then we let that dry completely as i mentioned earlier i said i would give you a tip on changing the size of the shawl and an alternative if you don't like this rolled edge to make the shawl wider or narrower narrower you will adjust your cast on in whatever amount you want because this is simple stockinette You can just add as many stitches as you want or take off as many as you want. As long as you have your lace edge, you can change it however you like. Then if you want it longer, so not such a short scarf shawl, simply keep repeating the six row repeat until it's the length you want. But remember, adjusting it means your yarn requirements will change as well, so keep that in mind. However, this yarn I used came in a bag of six, so I could have easily doubled the size of this without running out of yarn. Link is in the description as a reminder. As for the edge, I did a rolled finish because I love the delicate touch that it adds with this DK weight yarn, but if rolled edges aren't your thing, you can absolutely just add a garter edge to keep it flat, or even just put the lace on the other side too. Either way. So you can make it as wide as you want, but I would suggest As in the garter edging I'm talking about now. But I would suggest at least four stitches along your edge. So that means on every row you will knit the first at least four stitches of your edge opposite the lace. So every single row as you come. You'll put at least four stitches. So a great thing is to put a stitch marker on this end as well so it's a visual reminder it's time to knit. So that's your little tip of the day. I hope you love the Grotto shawl slash scarf as much as I do. If you're looking for more things to work on be sure to check out my other free patterns. I am Deja with Knit and Crochet Ever After and thank you for watching.