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Shawl Styling Tips & Photo Contest

Shawls are the perfect summer crafting projects! They usually need only one or two skeins of yarn (making them extremely portable), and can be knitted or crocheted in lightweight yarns that create beautiful drapey garments. Add some lace and cables for texture, or use up those variegated yarns to add some fun summer color!

While fun to make, handmade shawls can sometimes be a challenge to wear. Today, we share some inspiration to style all those gorgeous summer shawls PLUS a chance to win some fabulous prizes in our "Summer of Shawls" photo contest!

Styling Shawls


Centered in Back

Rriangular shawls can easily be worn with the point centered in the back and the sides draped over your shoulders. With a rectangular or a circular (or semicircular) shawl, try centering the shawl over your shoulders with the bulk of the shawl to your back. Worn this way, your beautiful handiwork is on full display, and your shawl will keep your shoulders, upper arms and torso warm. This is perfect for the chill of air-conditioning indoors, or on cool evenings.


Scarf Style

Rectangular stoles, skinny asymmetrical triangles and crescent shawls can be wrapped around your neck once (or multiple times) to be worn like a scarf. This is best done with lace and fingering-weight shawls to keep the bulk around your neck to a minimum. But, if done with a heavier weight yarn, your shawl will add warmth around your neck in the chilly fall and winter days.



Kerchief/Bandana Style

To wear a shawl kerchief or bandana style, you place the center point of your shawl at your front, and wrap the sides/tails around your neck and bring them back to the front. This creates a gorgeous focal point at your front, and allows you to show all that gorgeous work you’ve put into your shawl. Again, lighter weight shawls will wrap more easily in this style, but heavier weight shawls will keep your neck warm!


Off Center

Naturally, our favorite way to style shawls involves using a shawl pin or stick! Many people enjoy styling their shawls off-center, draping a point over one shoulder, or securing the ends over one shoulder with a gorgeous shawl pin or s tick. Not only will a shawl pin keep your work safe and secure, they can also add visual interest and enhance your handmade shawl! We have a variety of shawl pins that we use when styling shawls off center, or in any of the ways we pictured above.

Summer of Shawls Photo Contest

We'd love to see how you are styling your knitted and crocheted shawls this summer! Share your photos with us in our Ravelry group or on social media using the #knitterspride and #kpshawlstyle hashtags. You may post as many photos as you like, and while photos do not necessarily have to include Knitter's Pride shawl pins, we would love to see how you are using them to style your shawls!

Winners will get to select from the following prizes:





We'll randomly select FOUR lucky winners to announce here on the Knitter's Pride blog on Friday, July 26. Good luck!

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Spring Charity KAL/CAL Recap

Our first-ever Spring Charity KAL/CAL has been a huge success, and we owe it all to our wonderful knitters and crocheters who spent the entire month of May making blocks to donate to Warm Up America!

We're pleased to see that many folks continue to KEEP making blocks, too  - we hope you will continue sharing them with us on Ravelry and using the #KPCharityKALCAL hashtag on social media (we may even award some prizes over the summer for folks who keep making and sharing their blocks!!). Here are some free patterns you might want to try:








The Results
Many thanks to everyone who took shared photos of their completed blocks with us - you are all truly inspiring! From May 1-31, here's what our fantastic group of knitters and crocheters accomplished: 
  • 603 knitted blocks completed, which is enough to make 30 baby blankets or 12 adult-sized blankets!
  • 116 crocheted blocks completed, which is enough to make 5 baby blankets or 2 adult-sized blankets!
  • A grand total of 719 blocks which can be made into 35 baby blankets or 14 adult-sized blankets!
Grand Prize Winners
In addition to providing free needles and hooks to participants, we also offered up some prizes to the participants who make the most blocks during the month of May, and we're pleased to share our winners with you today!


For knitting the most blocks with a grand total of 160, Kawaii00natsume has won a Deluxe Ginger Interchangeable Needle Set!


For crocheting the most blocks for a grand total of 45, Mottley1 has won a Zing Crochet Set!

Winners will be contacted via Ravelry PM to arrange for the delivery of their prize.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in our Spring Charity KAL/CAL!

Pin this post to spread the word...and keep on knitting and crocheting those blocks this summer!