5 Free Knitting Patterns for Comfort Shawls Offer Warmth & Love

Looking for simple, snuggly knitting patterns for shawls? These five free knitting patterns create warm comfort shawls for any charity

Comfort shawls have a long history in charity knitting, and for good reason. For anyone who is struggling — physically, emotionally, mentally — a comfort shawl is a way to knit a tangible source of love and support.

After all, what is a comfort shawl but a way to offer a constant hug made of fiber?

I have knitted comfort shawls for a friend suffering depression and a friend whose son had recently been deployed in the military. Many of my knitting friends have created shawls for individuals struggling with illness. 

It isn’t difficult to find a beautiful free shawl knitting pattern; I’ve seen hundreds just online! However, many of these patterns are lacy, intricate shawls intended for lace-weight yarn.

That’s not a bad thing, of course. But some of us might prefer knitting shawls with a bit more substance to them. Warmer, snugglier, perhaps even more comforting.

(Or, perhaps all we have available is worsted-weight yarn, and so that’s what we want to use!)

For these purposes, here you will find a series of free knitting patterns for shawls that can be used to knit warm, cuddly shawls that are perfect to give as charity projects!

Warm, Comforting Shawls

Valis’ Triangle Shawl: A very simple triangular shawl pattern with a ruffle at one end. Great for beginning knitters or more experienced knitters seeking mindless knits.

Kinetic: For a little more of a challenge, try this rectangular shawl. It has an attractive basketweave-like design, and you can easily adapt it to make a scarf as well.

Stash Shawls, rectangular and triangular: As the name implies, you can knit these two comfort shawl patterns with whatever you have in your stash!

Autumn Comfort Prayer Shawl: This is another very simple triangle shawl. The name comes from the colorway in which the shawl shown was created. Of course, you can of course use any colorway you wish. Maybe you’d rather create a “spring,” “summer,” or “winter” shawl, with colorways correlating to each? You can!

With any of these patterns, you can turn out as many warm, cuddly comfort shawls as you wish!