Free Patterns to Show Your School Spirit

August 31, 2012 by Sarah White

This Saturday is the first football game of the college football season, and where I live that’s a BIG deal. My Facebook page has lately been full of people asking where they can get Razorbacks dresses or wreaths for their door, and I’m sure there are lots of crafty people all over the area breaking out their red and white stuff, if they haven’t already.

It’s going to be a little warm for school-colored knits for a few games, but it’s never too early to start. Here are some cute, easy patterns you can insert your school colors into to bring a little warmth whether you’re going to a fall football game, a winter basketball game or any other event.

Lion Brand has an easy School Colors Hat, which is worked flat in garter stitch with the color changes made on the right side for extra texture and interest. It’s a bit on the small side, so it might be better for high school kids than adults. The School Spirit Striped Scarf from Social Knitworking uses three colors and stockinette stitch worked in the round to make for a nice looking scarf that knits up quick.

And the only slightly more complex High School Colors Scarf from A.D.D. Knitter uses slip stitches to mix the two colors up and provide a much more interesting look.

Of course you could work any two-color pattern you like in your school colors to make it a “school” project, too.

Are you planning any school colors knitting? Spill it!

[Photo by Social Knitworking.]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Make Your Knitting Machine Scarves Better

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared any patterns for our circular knitting machine users. I know these devices aren’t for everyone but even though I much prefer knitting by hand, it is kind of fun to crank things out on these machines.

One of the most common early projects for a circular knitting machine is a scarf. Which makes sense, because it’s just one long tube and you can make it as long as you like.

One problem that comes from knitting scarves on the circular knitting machine, though, is that it can be hard to know how to finish the ends of the tube so that it looks like a finished scarf and not a tube of knitting.

If you’re not a knitter or crocheter, the most basic way to finish a circular knitting machine scarf is just by cinching up the ends and maybe adding a pompom to each end to cover up any hole that might still be visible at the end.

But if you have a little knitting or crochet skill or are willing to learn, there are a lot of different options for closing up the ends of a scarf. And this would also be true if you hand knit a tube scarf!

I recently wrote a post over at Our Daily Craft that includes five different ways to close up the ends of a tube scarf:

the simple cinching method mentioned above
sewing the stitches together
three needle bind off
grafting
crochet bind off

Grafting is my favorite because I feel like it gives the cleanest, closest to a seamless look. If you’re a knitter you may already know how to do it but even if you don’t it’s not that hard to learn.

Do you knit tube scarves by hand or machine? I’d love to know how you like to finish them!