A Striped Shawl to Celebrate Progress

Admittedly this project might be a little large to stitch up to wear to Pride this year (especially since celebrations may have already happened where you live). But it’s a good reminder that Pride not just for June, so I still wanted to share the Follow Your Path Shawl from STEPHMADETHAT.

This arrow shaped triangular shawl is worked in light fingering/lace weight yarn (though of course you can use heavier yarn and it will come out a different size) in stripes in the color order of the progress flag, which includes black and brown, the blue, pink and white of the trans flag and the rainbow colors of the original pride flag.

The long side of the shawl has a divot in it that should make it easier to wear than a traditional triangular shawl, and it makes it a little more fun to knit, too.

The original was worked with mini skeins, or you can use leftovers from other projects if you happen to have the colors on hand. You can also alter the width of the stripes as needed depending on the yarn you have or how deep you want it to be.

Speaking of mini skeins, you can find more ideas for using advent calendar yarn or other mini skeins here. And there’s plenty more pride knitting patterns, too!

The pattern is worked in garter stitch so the stripes really are the highlight, and it should be pretty quick and easy to knit even with the lighter weight yarn. It would make a great TV or travel knitting project that you can wear throughout the year or save it for next year’s pride events. It would also make a great gift any time of year for someone in the LBGTQ+ community or an ally who supports them.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: STEPHMADETHAT]

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns.

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn.

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options.

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners.

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set.

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn.

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers.

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.

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