Dream of Spring with this Allover Colorwork Sweater Knitting Pattern

A little bit of colorwork, whether it’s stripes, slip stitches, working with a multicolored yarn, stranded knitting, intarsia or any other method, adds a lot more interest and fun to a knitting project.

When it’s allover colorwork, that’s even better. And these bold stranded colorwork flowers just look like so much fun and have me thinking of spring (which really is just around the corner for us in the Northern Hemisphere, right?).

The Alyssum Sweater by Tomomi Yoshimoto uses DK weight yarn (or you can try worsted weight if you can get gauge with it) and features a field of white flowers, though of course you can stitch them in any color you want. White is easy because just about any color looks great with white, from pastels to bright colors, even gray and black.

This sweater is actually a heavier weight version of her Drawing sweater (also available on Ravelry), which uses sport weight yarn and the colorwork isn’t quite over the whole pattern. It also has raglan shaping, while the Alyssum has a circular yoke design. It sounds like Drawing is a little more difficult to get started, because some of the colorwork is worked flat and it starts with short rows, but once you get past the beginning part it sounds like it gets easier.

The Alyssum has all the colorwork done in the round, so that makes it a little easier. But either way this sweater is a beauty and looks like it would be a fun challenge to knit.

Back to Alyssum, it’s available in five sizes, ranging from a chest measurement of 52.5 inches to 68.25 inches. The smallest size is listed as M-L, but it doesn’t indicate how much positive ease is meant to be included, so you can pick the size that you’re most comfortable with.

You can find both patterns on Ravelry.

[Photo: Tomomi Yoshimoto.]

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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