This is a pattern which is easy to knit and can be used in different ways. It uses lifted stitches with the yarn in front which create regular strands of yarn. You can either keep them as horizontal strands and shift the stitches making a “ladder-like” pattern or you can include the strand in a stitch at a later row creating diagonal strands. 
This is my first attempt, the classic Trellis pattern. The same pattern is used in a very classy scarf from PurlSoho: Trellis scarf They also have a very detailed and easy-to-follow description of how to make it.
I have been curious to see how it looks if you use fewer stitches and rows. So I did the same but lifting only three stitches avery second row and it looks like the image to the left. It makes a very compact structure but still soft and flexible.
My Knitting Almanac 