Celebrate Fall with Leaf Knitting Patterns

I know it’s not technically fall quite yet in the Northern Hemisphere, but I like to use meteorological fall (which starts September 1) as my marker for bringing out the fall decor and maybe making some new pumpkins and leaves and other fun stuff to decorate with.

We’ll get to the pumpkins soon, but for now let’s take a look at this pile of leaf knitting patterns you can make for garlands, table decor, or whatever else you want.

Bobbi IntVeld made a nice collection of knit leaves for Blue Sky Fibers, which you can now get as a free Ravelry download. The pattern includes oak, birch and maple leaves worked in worsted weight yarn, but you can use whatever scraps you have on hand to make leaves of different sizes and colors.

Make leaves with your super fine leftovers with this pretty oak leaf pattern from Carrie Forrest Dweller Duvall, which you can also find on Ravelry.

Arianna Frasca had free patterns for both small and large kind of oval shaped leaves on her blog. Hers use super fine yarn but you can use what you have here, too, to make leaves of different sizes for a garland or other project.

Noble Knits has a free tiny garland pattern with teardrop-shaped leaves. Theirs is shown with just five leaves, but you can always make it longer or add some of these different leaf knitting patterns together to make a bigger project. It includes a video tutorial or you can enter your email to get the written pattern.

Xandy Peters also has an oak leaf knitting pattern that’s free on Ravelry. This one I have knit before and it’s a lot of fun!

I love the look of these oak leaves knit with multicolored yarn, which makes them look like they’re in the midst of changing colors. You can get this pattern from Elves World on Etsy. They also have an ebook of leaf knitting patterns if you’re looking for more patterns to try.

And while this one is not all leaves, I couldn’t resist sharing the Fall Harvest Charm Set from Susan B. Anderson, which is available for purchase on Ravelry. This tiny collection includes a leaf, pumpkin, acorn and pinecone, all worked in super fine yarn.

Next Pattern:

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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