A Couple of Tasty Knitting Patterns

Sometimes I feel like crochet beats knitting in terms of whimsy. I know there are plenty of fun and funky knitting patterns with all sorts of subjects, but it just feels like there are so many more options for fun stuff in the category of crochet amigurumi as opposed to knitting.

But every now and then I’ll come across some fun patterns (or make something myself!) that reminds me that knitting can be just as much fun and as silly as crochet is.

Before you go on check out our roundup of cross stitch patterns to celebrate women’s history month.

Case in point: these knit food pillows from Lion Brand Yarn.

First I saw the pretzel pillow knitting pattern, which is a super cute and easy project, worked in bulky weight yarn in the round. It’s just a giant tube, so it’s great practice for working in the round if you need that, and then you twist it, sew it into a pretzel shape and embellish it with beads for the salt. So cute!

Then I noticed there was also a pattern for a macaron pillow (not to be confused with a macaroon pillow), which would be so cute in a girl’s room since these treats are often pastel colors. This design is also made with bulky weight yarn, and while this one is also rated easy there’s more going on in the knitting. Because the pattern is worked in one piece, you’re starting from the center of one side of the cookie, increasing to the desired size, working a bit without increasing for the filling, then you decrease back down on the other side to make the second cookie. Once the cookie is knit, you work the filling as I-cord and then sew it in place.

These fun pillows are almost good enough to eat and would be fun for a dorm room, play room or TV room as well as a kid’s room. Or make one for your pretzel-loving pal.

Both are free downloads from Lion Brand Yarn that you can access at the links above.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?