10 Knitting Patterns for Sideways Triangle Shawls (knit tip to tip)

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Sideways triangle shawl knitting patterns are very popular for a reason – they are easy to knit because they start with just a few stitches but there are so many ways to customize and create beautiful hand knit shawls. In this article we’ll look at two different construction methods that create sideways triangle shawls and ten patterns that use this construction method.

Here are the patterns we’ll look at:

  • Early Winter by Laura Aylor
  • Kyna by Lucy Hague
  • Milena by Lisa Hannes
  • Semele by Åsa Tricosa
  • Kirra by Ambah O’Brien
  • Rift by Laura Aylor
  • Find Your Fade by Andrea Mowry
  • Myndie by Ambah O’Brien
  • Nasha by Craftdoodling
  • Birds of a Feather by Andrea Mowry

But before we look at those patterns, let’s take a quick look at how they are constructed.

Tip to Tip Triangle Shawls

The first way to knit sideways triangle shawls is tip to tip – by starting with just a few stitches and increasing along one edge until the shawl depth is reached. Then, along that same edge, stitches are decreased until you’re down to just a few stitches again. And, within this basic shape, you can add so many decorative touches like lace, colorwork, or cables. Or you can use a basic stitch pattern on the body of the shawl, like Garter stitch or Stockinette stitch, and add a pretty edging instead.

For more information about how this type of shawl is constructed, scroll down to find a video that demonstrates the process.

The sideways triangle shawl knitting patterns below show the vast range of design options – from simple Garter stitch, to cable borders, slip-stitch patterns, lacy edgings, to mosaic colorwork.

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Early Winter

Early Winter by Laura Aylor is a great beginner shawl if you’re new to tip-to-tip triangle shawl patterns. It’s worked in Garter stitch with some fun color changes and some eyelets to add some decorative elements. The shawl uses sport-weight yarn and even includes a basic schematic that you can color in to create your own color block combinations.

Pattern details: Early Winter

Get the yarn: Cascade 220 Sport

Kyna

Kyna by Lucy Hague is worked in Stockinette for the body of the shawl and adds a beautiful traveling twisted stitch border along the increase/decrease edge. The twisted stitch pattern has a Garter stitch background for even more interesting texture and it is offset by eyelets between the shawl body and the border as well as a decorative eyelet border. The other edge of the shawl also features a decorative eyelet edging.

Pattern details: Kyna

Get the yarn: Sock Yarn like Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock

Milena

Milena by Lisa Hannes also uses the same tip-to-tip sideways triangle constructions and cables but it’s completely different from the shawl above. This shawl includes a chunky rope cable along the top edge of the shawl as well as along the border. The body of the shawl is worked in a Garter stitch background with a slipped-stitch pattern that is only enhanced by the basic background.

Pattern details: Milena

Get the yarn: DK weight Merino Wool like Sweet Georgia Superwash DK

Semele

Semele by Åsa Tricosa features a beautiful leafy lace edging along the border and a similar motif along the neck edge of the shawl. Both patterns are offset by eyelet edges and the body of the shawl is worked in Stockinette stitch so all the focus is on the beautiful lace patterns. While the pattern instructions mention lace weight and fingering weight yarn, the designer also mentions how to change the yarn weight and still work the pattern.

Pattern details: Semele

Get the yarn: Cascade Heritage Silk

Kirra

Kirra by Ambah O’Brien uses an all-over geometric mosaic design worked in two colors. The design is knit in Garter stitch and uses a simple Garter stitch border. With two skeins of fingering weight yarn you can easily create a beautiful shawl. Mosaic colorwork is a great option for knitters that are new to color knitting. While it uses two colors, you are only ever using one color at a time. The second color is slipped while knitting across the row and this creates the mosaic designs.

Pattern details: Kirra

Get the yarn: Single Ply Merino Fingering weight yarn like Malabrigo Mechita

Sideways Triangle Shawls

Another way to knit a sideways triangle shawl uses increases at both edges (instead of just along one edge) but adds a double decrease in the middle. This double decrease creates a ‘spine’ along the center of the shawl. After the shawl depth is as deep as you want, the stitch count stays the same but stitches are slowly shifted from one side to another. After all the stitches have shifted over, the shawl is bound off to create the final edge of the triangle.

To learn more about this shawl construction (and the tip-to-tip constructions explained above), watch this video:

Rift

Rift by Laura Aylor is a simple design worked in Garter stitch. If you want to focus on the construction without too much additional patterning, this is a good choice. It’s worked in one solid color (the sample uses white) and has a few small stripes worked in bold colors and eyelets for a small decorative detail. Those small stripes are small enough that it would be a great way to use up any leftover yarns.

Pattern details: Rift

Get the yarn: Malabrigo Mechita

Find Your Fade

Find Your Fade by Andrea Mowry is a popular pattern. It uses a large amount of yarn (it’s really a BIG shawl) but in a fun way. If you want to work on a fading project with lots of different yarns, this is the project you’ll want to try. The pattern is easy to follow – it’s worked in Garter stitch with some sections of simple lace but the real star of the show is the color. By slowly ‘fading’ from one color to another, you can create some beautiful color play.

Pattern details: Find Your Fade

Get the yarn: Malabrigo Sock

Myndie

Myndie by Ambah O’Brien is a great choice if you want some color but don’t want to do all the color changes yourself. Instead, select a gradient yarn and work this simple pattern. It’s knit in a simple Garter stitch background with rows of eyelets for some interest. The central ‘spine’ helps give the final shawl it’s arrow-like direction. The pattern uses a fingering weight yarn and US 5 needles for nice drape for the finished shawl.

Pattern details: Myndie

Get the yarn: Gradient Merino Fingering weight like Sweet Georgia Mohair Silk Sock

Nasha

Nasha by Craftdoodling is a beautiful lace shawl following this central decrease asymmetrical triangle shawl construction. There are sections of Garter stitch, eyelets, and bands of pretty lace flowers. While the lace adds a nice finished decorative element, it’s interspersed with simple Garter stitch so it is still a fairly simple design that would be easy to knit. If you have a single skein of fingering weight yarn that you’ve stashed away, this might be a good knitting pattern for that favorite yarn.

Pattern details: Nasha

Get the yarn: Fingering weight sock yarn like Malabrigo Sock

Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather by Andrea Mowry is the ultimate in luxury shawls in this category. With the addition of sections of mohair, you can knit a cozy, beautiful, soft shawl. It follows this basic construction with sections of Garter stitch, simple lace panels, and those beautiful sections of mohair. This oversized shawl requires three skeins of yarn – two skeins of fingering weight yarn for most of the body of the shawl, and a skein of lace-weight mohair for the mohair sections of the shawl.

Pattern details: Birds of a Feather

Get the yarn: Fingering weight merino like Malabrigo Sock and lace weight mohair & silk blend like Austermann Kid Silk

If you’re new to knitting tip-to-tip triangle shawls or asymmetrical triangle shawls, these ten knitting patterns are a great starting point for your shawl knitting adventures. If you’d like to learn more about knitting shawls, take a look at the book and articles linked below.

Shawl Knitting Resources

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