Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Free Knitting Pattern: Kaffe Fassett’s Islay

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islay kaffe fassettI have a little bit of an obsession with Kaffe Fassett. The British master of color produces some glorious knits, but so many of them require so many different colors of yarn that you don’t even want to think about how much such a garment would cost, not to mention how long it would take and how much attention it would need to knit it.

(Actually, I did think about it once. The first book of his I ever reviewed, Kaffe Knits Again, includes a beautiful wrap he calls the Stepped Flowers Stole. It’s sort of like the Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt pattern, but in knitting. It calls of 24 balls of 15 different colors of yarn, for a total yarn cost of about $263.)

Rowan has a new free pattern of Fassett’s out, called Isaly. It’s a women’s pullover in multicolored squares and crosses (and another one of those huge-number-of-color projects, this time with 14). It’s a beauty, and the colorwork is not that difficult since it’s all simple shapes, so long as you can keep up with the color changes.

The chart is in black and white, too, so it’s a little dizzying. The pattern is available for free as a PDF (in four languages), but you have to register an account with Rowan (they don’t require a lot of personal information) to access it. Which is probably worth it to take a closer look at this beauty (I’m sure there’s a way to cut down on the number of colors used, too, though it wouldn’t be a true Fassett at that point, it would still be really pretty).

[Photo by Rowan.]

Looking for knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Looking for pullover and sweater patterns? Check these books out.

Comments

  1. Could easily run upstairs and grab all the yarn I need to make this since there are 3 baskets of small balls. Love it and wish I could afford to buy all of his patterns since day 1.

  2. Could easily run upstairs and grab all the yarn I need to make this since there are 3 baskets of small balls. Love it and wish I could afford to buy all of his patterns since day 1. Just wish I could still read charts but my brain says no these days.

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Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

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.