Animal-Inspired Sock Knitting Patterns

Admittedly this roundup of patterns is a little niche, but I was looking at colorwork sock knitting patterns and happened to find a lot that include animals or are inspired by animals, so why not take a walk on the wild side and knit some animal inspired socks?

It all started, as most things do, with cats. In particular the Hubble Bubble socks by Abi Marshall-Smith, From Devin with Love. These sweet stripey socks have little black cats on the backs of the heels, so you’ll definitely want to wear them when you aren’t wearing shoes. The pattern comes in three sizes and is available on Ravelry.

And if there are cats, there have to be dogs, right? How about the Pixel Slouch Socks from Winter’s Weather Knits, which have colorwork inspired by a dog in the designer’s life? If you have a dog (or cat, for that matter) with multicolored fur you could make these with different colors to represent their paws, too. Available in three sizes, you can grab the pattern on Ravelry.

Leopard print is a fun choice for socks, and I’ll bet these knit up in a flash because the colorwork is son entertaining. The version shown, from Beyond the Loops, uses classic orange and black, but pick any two high-contrast colors you like. The pattern come s in three sizes and is on Ravelry in English and Finnish.

Jazz up some simple knit socks with a bit of color to make Very Hungry Caterpillar Socks with this free chart from Sian Maloney. This is not a sock pattern, just the chart for making the eyes. You can download it from Ravelry. Change up the colors on the socks to make different insects if you want; kids are sure to love them!

Or how about making some socks covered in rubber duckies? This pattern from Renate Dalmo is also free on Ravelry, and includes colorwork bands of ducks along the leg and foot.

Stone Knits on Etsy has a fun “pair” of sock patterns you can buy together and knit a pair of both or make a mismatched pair. The pattern is called Why Are Flamingos Pink? and one sock has flamingos and the other shrimp. They’re surprisingly cute!

And if you want to take “animal sock knitting patterns” literally, check out this crazy collection from Emma Barmudez Designs. Here you’ll find patterns for a crocodile (shown above), fish, dragon, chameleon and platypus, all with mouths open to receive your feet. Each pattern comes in three sizes, starting with a child’s large/woman’s small, so you can make them for your bigger kids if they have a silly sock day at school (or to wear any other time).

Free Knitting Pattern – Slouchy Socks

Elevation Yoga Socks Knitting Pattern

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.

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