Soft Edges/ Diamond Core is a rectangular shawl that can also be worn more like a scarf. Wrap yourself up in a wonderful set of tactile stitch patterns in this drapey shawl. Worked from end to end, it’s a great first intarsia project for any knitter comfortable with knits, purls, and working with a simple chart. The pattern includes a lot of tips and tricks, and a couple pep talks to get you through the process.

The pattern also includes a few suggestions for how to change dimensions for your shawl.

Sample A: Three colours. Shown in Life in the Long Grass Merino Sport.
Sample B: Two colours. Shown in Fleur Ange Apparel Merino Fingering. Kits available through the dyer: https://www.fleurange.ca/

I recommend a sport weight yarn, or a heavier fingering weight with no more than 340m/370yd per 100g of yarn. Yarn weight categories are a little fluid!

Chart information
This shawl is worked primarily from charted instructions. Despite the size of the chart, you will soon get a feel for how the shapes work together (though the whole chart is provided so you can keep track of your progress, if you like). The chart is provided in a separate PDF.

Yarn requirements:

Sample A Yarn:
Life in the Long Grass Merino Sport (300m per 100g)
MC (background): 215g/ 645m. Show in Clay.
CC (diamonds): 57g / 171m EACH of Slumber and Nembus.

Sample B Yarn:
Fleur Ange Apparel Merino Fingering (338m per 100g)
MC (background): 199g (672m, 736yd) in Lake Country
CC (diamonds): 106g (358m, 392yd) in I Hate Sand

Please note, a 10% additional yarn allowance has been built in. With proper swatching, it is possible the shawl will use only 2 skeins of MC yarn (if you choose to reuse your swatch yarn). Please decide for yourself if you wish to purchase 2 or 3 skeins of the MC yarn, and 1 or 2 skeins of CC if knitting a two-colour version.

Needle size
Please use the needle size required to achieve gauge. Madison used a 3.5mm (US4) needle for Sample B; Jess is a tight knitter and used a 4.5mm needle (US7) for Sample A, with the same resulting gauge.

This pattern was previously published in Life in the Long Grass Magazine under the title “Diamond Scarf”. It has been tech edited and tested.