A V-Neck to Knit from Side to Side

One of the things that’s great about knitting is that you can make projects that fit exactly the way you want them. But if you’re newer to knitting you might not have the confidence to go your own way on a project, so it can help to work with projects that are meant to be made to measure to give yourself some practice.

The Confluence V-neck from Lauren McElroy is a great project to try out your skills at making a made to measure garment. It’s worked from side to side in seed stitch using two strands of fingering weight yarn held together.

You can decide how long you want it to be, how much ease you like and the depth of the V-neck/back as you sew the pieces together.

The seed stitch gives it a fun textured look that’s not at all difficult to achieve, and you can play with colors by using two coordinating shades or using two strands of the same yarn held together as you like.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry or on Lauren’s website.

This pattern is part of Lauren’s spring and summer collection, which also includes the made to measure Verse top, a super light fingering weight top that has a keyhole opening that can be worn at the front or the back of the garment as you like.

This one includes a picot edging and is worked from the bottom up in the round until the keyhole split. It also includes picots at the neckline, an I-cord tie and tiny buttons to close the neckline. It’s worked with a lovely silk and linen blend yarn that’s perfect for summer and great to wear with your favorite linen pants on the beach or anywhere else.

This pattern can also be found on Ravelry or you can purchase it directly from Lauren’s website.

[Photo: Lauren McElroy]

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As I’m writing this the United States is about to celebrate a pretty big birthday, and while some of us have complicated feelings about that country right now, I think most of us would agree both that it’s a place worth fighting for and that it’s a good time to remember what got us into this nation in the first place. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some patriotic knitting patterns.

I thought there might be more knitting patterns produced specific to America’s big celebration this year, but I only found one (so far, there are probably more as you read this). The Semiquincentennial Scarf by Kristen Rettig is a bias knit scarf using DK weight yarn. It has one solid blue side and one red and white striped side. The pattern is available for free on Ravelry.

Sara’s Patriotic Shawl by Mitsziko is another great project for the Fourth of July or whenever else you want to show some patriotic pride. This one has a wide lace border, stripes and a blue section that includes white bobbles to imply stars. It’s worked in DK weight yarn. You can find this one on Ravelry.

If there were prizes for the punniest pattern names, Stars & Socks Forever from Katie Franceschi would definitely win something. These socks feature stripes on the body and stars at the top of the leg and the toe, as well as on the heel. The pattern comes in three widths and you can knit to your desired length. This pattern uses a chart for the stars and you can find it on Ravelry.

This little patriotic doll from Nadia Perepelitsa is styled like a boy, but you could give it longer hair if you like. It uses fingering weight yarn and is worked on two straight needles in such a way that you’ll only have to sew side seams when it’s done. So cute! You can find it on Ravelry.

This American flag sweater knitting pattern from SC Pattern is giving big Ralph Lauren vibes. It’s a drop shoulder crewneck with unisex styling that comes in five sizes. The flag is worked in intarsia, so the pieces are worked flat and seamed.

The Patriotic Tam from Judy Lamb is a little more subtle, though it does have red, white and blue colorwork, and a bunch of golden eagles around the base of the tam. It’s worked in worsted weight yarn from the bottom up and the colorwork is charted. This pattern is available on Ravelry.

If you’re looking for a big project to work for the fourth that you can use all summer every summer and you’ll want to, because it’s a big project) check out the American flag blanket pattern from Dr. Josie’s Joys. This is a vintage pattern, so the yarn doesn’t exist anymore, but it would still be lots of sun to make. It is worked with the stripes and block of blue, and the stars are added with duplicate stitch.

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