Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Ebb and Flow with the Details in this Sweater Knitting Pattern

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Tif Neilan is a known fan of herringbone stitch as a design element in her patterns. I love it, too, and have written a couple of posts about herringbone stitch and other ways to make herringbone designs in knitting.

Tif uses a herringbone stitch on the cuffs of her Ebbs & Flows sweater, a top down raglan design that also features a bit of mosaic colorwork at the hem and on the sleeves.

The herringbone bit is optional, as the pattern also includes instructions for working twisted ribbing instead, but the herringbone gives such a different textured look that I think it’s worth the effort of learning how to do it for this design.

It is worked in the round except for some German short rows for shaping after the neckline. It’s meant to hit at the high hip but you could make it longer or more cropped as you like.

The pattern comes in 10 sizes, with a finished chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 80 to 170 cm. It is designed to be worn with around 4 inches/10 cm of positive ease at the chest.

It calls for three colors of DK or worsted weight yarn, though you’ll need a relatively small amount of the contrasting colors since most of the body is worked in a solid color. Because of the different stitches used you’ll need a variety of knitting needle sizes and the pattern notes recommend having a set of interchangeable knitting needles to make this easier, but you can always use what you have.

You can find out more about this pattern and grab a copy on Ravelry. There are already a good number of finished projects in the gallery there so you can see how it works with different colors and different body and sleeve lengths (they’re meant to be long but I spy a couple that look like three quarters).

[Photo: Tif Neilan]

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Yarn Cozy Knitting Patterns

I’ve been toying with the idea of making a yarn cozy or yarn ball holder on the circular knitting machine, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. In the meantime, here are some yarn cozy knitting patterns you can make with knitting needles. Use yarn to hold you yarn!

In its simplest form, a yarn cozy is just a sleeve or a little basket that holds your yarn when you’re working with a center-pull ball so it doesn’t fall apart when you knit. The easiest ones I could find are from Love in Stitches KN, which has a regular size and a mini size. They’re worked with sock yarn and there are options for making them with ribbing, faux cables and with self-striping yarn.

For bigger cakes there’s a project called We call it the “bail holder” from Nicole LeBlanc. This pattern is available on Ravelry and you can use any yarn and make it any size you like. It features an I-cord edging that has a loop in it so you can thread they yarn through the loop to keep it extra contained as you knit.

Another large one that has a slightly fancier pattern is this one by Mareike Meye. You can use any yarn and any gauge, and slip stitch pattern worked in different colors on the sides makes it a little more fun and uses a bit more stash. A strap buttons across the top to hold the ball in place and you can add a buttonhole to the middle of the strap to thread the yarn through. Check this one out on Ravelry.

Adding lace to a yarn cozy makes it fit a wider variety of balls and expand or shrink a bit as needed. Jennifer Sugarman’s Ball Sack uses sock yarn and is made to hold sock yarn. It has the option of making I-cord or using ribbon or cord you already have to make a drawstring at the top. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

Another lacy option is the yarn ball holder from Frugal Knitting Haus. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has an easy mesh lace pattern and an I-cord drawstring that’s sewn together at the ends so you could loop it over your wrist while you knit if you like. This pattern is also on Ravelry.

Speaking of wrist yarn holders, I also found this one form Knituition. This one uses sport weight yarn and has a spiral rib pattern on the body. The strap is attached to the bag with D-rings, or you could make it a little longer and just sew it into the bag.