If you’re a fan of scarves and shawls (or of lace knitting more generally), you might feel like you need to give up your accessories when the weather gets warm. But the good news is there are plenty of projects worked with mesh patterns, or lace in lightweight yarn, that makes it possible to wear a little knit something just about any time of year. These are also great for knitting at the beach or when you’re somewhere warm because they don’t make your lap hot while you knit.
The Different Breeze Scarf from Sachiko Uemura is a pretty and easy to knit rectangular mesh scarf. It’s worked flat widthwise, and while the pattern calls for fingering weight yarn you can use whatever you like to make a mesh scarf to wear any time of year. This pattern is a free download on Ravelry.
Cascading Diamonds from Unique Sheep on Etsy is another simple scarf that’s worked in an openwork pattern with more solid diamonds to anchor the lace. This one is rated intermediate and it has both a chart and written instructions you can use depending on your preference.
Sometimes your best bet for a summer accessory is to go small, but if you don’t want a scarf you can try a mini shawl like A Summer State of Mind by Marilyn Woodruff. This fingering weight shawl has bands of lace mesh and stockinette stitch, and has some short row shaping to keep it fun. You can find it on Ravelry.
The Summer Breeze Shawl form Industrial Whimsy is a classic mesh rectangle that’s perfect to use as a shawl or a beach cover. The multicolored yarn used in the sample makes it extra fun, but you can use whatever yarn you like (it calls for sock yarn).
Sasha Hyre’s Saffy is a giant mesh rectangle that can double as a dress, shawl, picnic blanket, probably lots of other things I’m not even thinking about right now. It can easily be adjusted in size because the repeat is a multiple of 2 plus 1. This one used a gorgeous lace weight silk yarn that I can just imagine is so light and comfortable against the skin, even on a hot day. This pattern is part of the Island Vibes collection published by Laine Publishing.
Lavender Hill Knits has a pretty asymmetrical triangle lace shawl with lots of eyelets and a super fun scalloped edging. It looks complex but this pattern is completely written out with no charts, so it’s a great step up pattern for someone who wants a fancier look but doesn’t want to deal with reading charts. It calls for lace weight yarn and you are definitely going to want to block this one to make that border pop.
Taking the skill level up a bit again, the Aisla shawl from Fiber and Fern Designs is rated for intermediate knitters. It has a zigzag lace pattern over much of the body and a more intricate pattern on the deep edging that runs along one side of the asymmetrical triangle. This one uses fingering weight yarn.
