Not an Island Shawl

This shawl is a variation on my Island Top Pattern.  I am releasing this pattern for pride month because I have made a sample in the colors of the Pride with Progress flag (although I am sorry, I just realised that I accidentally swapped the pink and blue stripes).

I am making this pattern and my island top pattern free for all of June (and July because I feel like it and pride doesn’t just have to be in June). If you download ether of these patterns for free, please consider spending the 4 or 5 dollars the patterns would normally cost on a designer in the LBTGQ+ community if you are able to.

I was originally just going to release this as an update with modifications to the original Island Top pattern but to make it more understandable I ended up writing up a full new set of instructions. The name “Not an Island” shawl immediately stuck in my head. None of us are an island, we are all part of a larger community where we live and interact.  The community I hope to live in and help create is one where people are welcome, feel safe to live as themselves and treat each other with respect and kindness. While I do not have the lived experience of being LGBTQ+, I can strive to be an ally.   

This pattern and my Island Top pattern will be FREE on Ravelry for all of June and July 2026.

Important Links

• The pattern on Ravelry (Free in June and July)
• Buy the pattern on Etsy (not possible to make it free on Etsy)
• Island Top Pattern (also Free in June and July)

Details

I have made this shawl in the colors of the Pride with Progress flag, but it can easily be made in any color you like, including solid.  I think this would work quite well with a slow color change yarn like a Whirl or as a bit of a stash buster. 

The pattern includes instructions for the rainbow color changes or a solid shawl with or without the extra border. As well as an alternating stripe version like the original Island Top pattern with an extra option for a decorative edging.

My rainbow sample is 136 x 44.5 cm (53.5 x 17.5 in), but it can easily be adjusted in size to be as big or small as you like.   

The pattern is written in English with standard US terms and includes plenty of progress photos.

Yarn

I made my Rainbow sample with mostly* Scheepjes Organicon (100% Organic Soft Cotton; 50g/170m). In total my shawl took just under 150g/510m of Scheepjes Organicon, I used: 244 Red Rose, 224 Deep Tangerine, 238 Happy Sunflower, 234 Cozy Moss, 266 Sapphire, 258 Violet, 220 Broken Almond, 248 Pink Elephant, 216 Soft Sky, 240 Hickory, 218 Ebony.

* The brown and black stripes are actually Scheepjes cotton 8 and Whirrlette because that is what I had on hand, but I have listed the colors for equivalate Organicon.

I was able to pull these colors from my stash, most are left over from the Festival of Lights CAL, if I was going to buy yarn specifically for this, I would probably have purchased 207 Apple Blossom for the pink instead of 248 Pink Elephant.

I used a 3 mm crochet hook

The pattern would also work great and have the same gauge in Scheepjes Cotton Create, Bamboo soft, or a Whirl.

Writing up the pattern I also made a mini sample in Scheepjes Organicon 246 Dahlia & 259 Lucky Heather to show the alternating color version and a partial sample in 247 Swaying Tulip & 222 Guava Juice to check the extra decorative border option. I plan to finish these as full shawls at some point because I really like the color combinations.

If you don’t want to deal with color changes you can also make a solid version. You could make a nice big Shawl with a Scheepjes Whirl or Scheepjes Cotton Whirl. Here are a few whirl ideas for inspiration. In order below, cotton whirls: 712, 733, 701, 703, 716, 734, whirls: 759, 764, 768

Pattern Support

Jessica Wifall’s Crochet Studio: my facebook group it is a great place to ask questions of me and the community and share your creations and works in progress.

My YouTube Channel: I am slowly working on increasing my list of crochet technique video tutorials. I may not have any up right now that apply specifically to this pattern but at some point, in the future that might change.

• Techniques playlists: Right-handed / Left-handed

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Inspiration

This pattern was inspired by my Island Top pattern absolutely flopping in pattern sales. Seriously, since it was published about 8 months ago, I have sold a grand total of 7 copies. I am sure there are many reasons for this but it’s still a pattern that I am proud of. I was thinking about the pattern and how patterns look so different with different colors and I thought I could make the top in rainbow stripes and share it in June.

After way over thinking it a lot, I decided to make a shawl version of the pattern instead. The stitch pattern lends itself neatly to a triangle shape and like the top it is a satisfying and quick pattern to work up.

More Ideas?

I have also been playing around with different ways to show alternate colors for a pattern. As much as I would like to, I don’t usually have time to make a sample in 10 different color ways, more often I have time for a one or two samples at most. So, I spent an afternoon making tracing a photo of my Island top in procreate making a sketch version that I could easily change the colors of. Since I didn’t crochet an actual rainbow version of the Island Top here are some Illustration of the a few rainbow versions and a dress/coverup idea.