Colorwork Cardigan Knitting Patterns

As I go about my perusal of the Internet and social media, I collect knitting patterns of various types that catch my eye. Sometimes a single pattern will inspire me to write a whole post, while other times I wait and gather and see if a theme will emerge that I can write a longer post about that includes more patterns.

That’s how this colorwork cardigan knitting patterns collection came about. These projects all use color in different ways — from stripes to allover stranded knitting, intarsia color blocks and bands of colorwork — and hopefully they’ll inspire you to add more color to your projects.

The Camden Cardigan is a simple, boxy striped cardigan that has been on my personal knit list for a while. It’s worked in two colors of bulky yarn and comes in five sizes. Designed by Vladimir Teriokhin, it’s a free pattern on Lion Brand’s website.

Work stripes of colorwork with tuck stitches that give them a vintage flair in the Mohn Cardigan pattern from EKnitsShop on Etsy. Inspired by a 1950s cardigan, the pattern is knit flat and the sleeves are worked separately and sewn in. The pattern information on Etsy doesn’t give all the details but I looked it up on Ravelry and it comes in 12 sizes from 32 to 62 inches.

Melanie Berg’s Pandau cardigan is a longer cardigan that has colorwork in bands below the armholes. There are some standard stripes and some mosaic/slip stitch designs. This one uses bulky yarn in five colors, comes in seven sizes, and is available on Ravelry.

The intarsia color blocking on this super long cardigan from The Blue Mouse on Etsy looks like a lot of fun to stitch. It uses worsted weight yarn and comes in one size with a 56 inch chest measurement (142 centimeters) so depending on your size it can have lots of ease for wearing as a coat or less to wear as a cardigan.

Practice allover colorwork with the Beckham cardigan from Kyle Kunnecke. This pretty DK weight design is covered with repeating diamond patterns. It’s worked flat and the colorwork pattern is charted. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

Get a super cozy cardigan with Cowichan style with the Patons True North cardigan. Worked flat in pieces in bulky yarn, this design features stripes and intarsia-knit trees and bears. It uses five colors and comes in six sizes, with chest measurements ranging from 38 to 63 inches (96.5 to 160 cm).

Next Pattern:

This swirly square stitch knitting pattern from Studio Knit is a lot of fun, and it looks kind of complicated without being difficult at all.

The swirly nature of the block comes from regularly placed increases, as the pattern is worked in rounds from the center out. Switching between sections of all knit stitches and all purl stitches (which gives you stockinette and reverse stockinette respectively when worked in the round) adds to the off-kilter flair but makes it really easy to knit.

You can work it in a single color or change colors regularly. This isn’t really a change colors randomly kind of pattern just because it looks better if you work a full repeat in a single color, but you know there are no rules so you can do whatever you want.

You can also make it any size you like, and indeed use any yarn you want. This one is blanket sized and used five colors of worsted weight yarn, but you can use any yarn and corresponding needles (you’ll need double pointed needles and circulars of various lengths, depending on how big you want to make your square).

For a start, why not grab some cotton yarn and stitch up a swirly washcloth? You could still use a couple of colors if you want, jsut for fun.

Once you try that, you’ll probably want to make a bigger version, and you could definitely use more colors than Kristen did (or just one color if you prefer), you just need to make sure you change colors at the beginning of the pattern repeat to keep everything looking good.

If you’re ready to start (and I know I am!) you can grab the free pattern and check out a video to help you get started at Studio Knit.

[Photo: Studio Knit]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?