Follow along and discover your next inspiration as we cast on for projects we love, explore new techniques, and dish about the latest and greatest from Knit Picks.
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Week 8 in our 12 Weeks of Gifting series is here! This weeks’ pattern is the Flight of Birds Shawlette, a stunner of a shawl project that only requires 2 skeins of Chroma Worsted.
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Week 5 of our annual 12 Weeks of Gifting series is here! This week’s featured pattern is the generously sized and wonderfully colorful sock yarn shawl, Koloreak.
(more…)Who is looking for some inspiring new indie knitting patterns? I am! It’s my favorite time of year—the air is cooling off and maybe we’re all looking for new knitting patterns, either for ourselves or for gifts for loved ones. If you are looking for inspiration, check out some of these fabulous brand new indie designer patterns that I absolutely cannot wait to make!
First are these beautiful patterns by Tamy Gore! She has so many lovely patterns available, and I’m excited about these three lovely wraps now available on the site.
Next is one of our favorite designers – Kalurah Hudson. Her new pattern is a cozy wrap that is a perfect quick knit in bulky yarn and large needles.
You might also enjoy: Our interview with indie designer Kalurah Hudson
And, if you listen to our podcast, you know how much I love knitting socks. A new -to-me designer Belinda Barbagallo has a super cute sock pattern I cannot wait to get on my needles. I love the extra detail on the soles!
And if you need to a new sweater to wear this fall, I think Wool + Pine’s gorgeous pullover will fit the bill.
Note: We also have Sorrel Pattern Kits in 8 sizes, from 31.5″ bust to 66″ bust!
Finally, Emily Kintigh updated her fun Stuffed Football pattern to include extra sizes – just the thing for football fans of all ages.
Need more indie knitting patterns inspiration? Check out our full line of our Independent Designer Partnership patterns here!
It’s week 6 in our 12 Weeks of Gifting series and this week we’re swooning over the subtly shifting colors of the Brindle & Blend Shawl. Knit from end to end on the bias in tried-and-true Hawthorne Multi yarns, the pattern includes two different bind off options. This shawl incorporates subtle blending of brindled stripes along its length, creating a wide and colorful shawl. With the majority of the shawl being comprised of simple garter stitch, this is the perfect project for curling up with on a relaxing crafternoon!
Come back next week for our 7th free pattern in the series!
Eight new colors are here to spice up your knits! Stroll Brights Special Reserve is the same wonderful sock yarn base in set of super bright colorways. Remember, Special Reserve means they’ll only be around while we have stock so grab some while you can! I snatched one ball of Pucker as soon as we opened the box of samples because it’s just SO BRIGHT and wonderful, there’s no way I could pass it up. I knew right away that I wanted to do a Color Affection shawl with a bright pop of color and the screaming pink was perfect for it.
I’ve been seeing so many projects that feature a light grey with a HOT pink accent so I grabbed two balls each of Stroll Dove Heather and White and got started that afternoon.
I love this pattern! I found that I did have to modify it to get a looser top edge (I used this knitter’s notes as a jumping off point) otherwise I left the pattern as-is.
I love that the shawl can expand to a larger, cozy size but isn’t too heavy and can drape like a spring-weight scarf. So cute! I’ve been wearing it with a shawl pin to keep everything in place when I’m moving around at work. I hope someone works a version up with Pickle Juice (best name EVER) as the accent color. I think it would look stunning as the contrast color with black background!
I can’t believe that it’s finally time to introduce Diadem! I’ve seen so many projects in this glorious yarn around the office lately that it feels like old news, but now I’ll be able to oggle all of your projects on Ravelry! I literally can’t wait to see what creations feature this yarn over the next few months. For now, I’ll content myself to petting the wonderful fabric of the Diving In {recipe} shawl that I made and gifted to my mother for her birthday. The luminous skeins of Diamond and Moonstone were the first colors I spotted when the shipment of Diadem arrived in the office and I made a quick grab for one of each in the middle of the mad dash for yarn. For weeks afterward we all had piles of silky hanks on our desks as we searched for the “perfect pattern” to test this new yarn.
I settled on Mam’zelle Flo’s Diving in {recipe} shawl pattern because I was guaranteed to use every last bit of yardage and I’d be able to get a good idea of the color transitions in each colorway. There are long, rich repeats of three colors in each hank with Diamond as the most subtle colorway – shifting from shimmering white to a soft cream which contrasted nicely with Moonstone’s cold grey and shots of pale blue.
I can’t get over just how much drape there is in this fabric. This yarn was a little tricky to work with because that luscious combination of Mulberry Silk and Baby Alpaca makes for a slippery yarn that wants to slither right off your needles the minute your back is turned. I used wooden Harmony needles to help minimize dropped stitches and by the end of the week I was cringing at the roughness of any other yarn I tried to pick up while I was working on this project. Diadem temporarily ruined me for other yarn! I’ve been contemplating a Rikke Hat project in Sapphire or Azurite, anything to show off those FANTASTIC blues!
One of the projects on my “someday” list has been a worsted weight shawl. I’ve always wanted to have a a touch of Kirsten Larson and Laura Ingalls in my life… even if the weather isn’t always quite right and I’m not about to be tossing one over my shoulders before I head out to milk some sassy milk cows in the dead of winter. At least not any time soon. Sylvia Bo Bilvia’s Lonely Tree Shawl has been in my Ravelry queue forever, just waiting for the perfect yarn to cast on with.
This shawl has all the characteristics that I look for in a lace shawl: an easy to remember pattern, top down construction and a nice simple border. The great thing about this one is that it’s knit with the worsted weight wool so it’s a super quick project (at least compared to other fingering or lace weight shawls I’ve been working on). I grabbed four balls of the new Wool of the Andes Superwash in Fjord Heather and my size 8 needles and got to work in the car on the way down to the Redwood National Park for 4th of July weekend.
It took three days of pretty steady knitting (knitting in the car, at the rest stop, around the campfire, in the tent and back in the car again) to finish it! One quick soak to wash the smokey campfire smell and it’s ready to wear (I LOVE that smell, but not when it’s tinged with the scent of cooking veggie dogs too!).
Now I have a shawl that reminds me of all those afternoons I spent dreaming of cabin life growing up and my vacation to one of the prettiest forests on this coast. The new Wool of the Andes Superwash feels just like regular Wool of the Andes (I was actually joking around the office that if they lost their ball bands I’d never be able to tell them apart) so now I can have my traditional wooly, rugged knits but I can toss them in the washing machine!
