Add Adorable Animals to Your Sweaters and Hats

With the vast collection of handknits I have, I don’t have a lot of colorwork sweaters (and no colorwork hats that I regularly wear). And when you look at the colorwork, there’s not a lot that I’d consider fun.

That’s really sad, because there are a lot of great whimsical colorwork knitting patterns out there. Today I’d like to introduce you to two of them. Or really four of them.

Vicky Chan has two sets of really cute colorwork designs that include a matching hat and sweater: Averie and Fiona (all links ahead point to Ravelry, FYI).

Averie is a sweater and hat pattern that feature fern fronds, flowers and a little bird. Fiona is a similar design, except here the bird has been replaced by a cat

All of the designs use worsted weight yarn. The hats come in one size and start with a provisional cat on so that the colorwork can be knit from the top down and the rest of the hat from the bottom up. The colorwork portion of all the patterns is charted. Because there are some long floats, instructions are given both for trapping floats and using ladder back jaquard if you prefer.

The sweaters have seven size options, but the largest size is on 56 inches/142 cm, and the design is intended to be worn with 2-8 inches (5-20 cm) of positive ease, which lowers that sizing even more.

But if you do happen to fall into that range of sizes (the smallest one is 32 inches or 81 cm) these sweaters are super cute. It might be fun to work the cats or birds in a different color from the rest of the colorwork (though that would involve even more long floats) or to use a multicolored yarn for the colorwork. There’s one in the Fiona sweater patterns that added color to the cat so check that out if it’s something you want to try!

[Photos: Vicky Chan]

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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