Get Ready for Summer Stitching with the Summer Love Collection

Annie’s has just launched a new collection of summer-inspired knit and crochet projects called Summer Love. The collection was envisioned by lead designer Lena Skvagerson, who draws from more than 25 years in the European knit and crochet design markets.

Collection contributors include Lisa Gentry, Jill Hanratty, Meghan Jones, Charles Voth and Kara Gott Warner. This group of collaborators share one unified vision—to create a feel-good volume of knit and crochet patterns with the intention to infuse loving energy upon those who create them.

“This collection is so timely for Annie’s because we are deeply listening to the needs of knitters and crocheters,” Skvagerson said. “They demand more than just another pattern, and our answer is a lifestyle approach that invokes emotion, excitement and passion. We want to design garments and wearables that people will actually wear every day and that look flattering on a broad range of body types. They should be clothes that make you feel good and that make people say “Wow, did you make that!?”

This is the first seasonal collection from Annie’s, and it includes knit sweaters, vests and tunics, a crocheted swimsuit and hat, shawls and other accessories perfect for warmer weather. The projects suit a range of skill levels and suit a variety of tastes, with an emphasis on romantic, beachy styles perfect for summer, even in landlocked states. Each pattern costs $7.

Some of my favorites include the Montecito Tunic and the simple Painted Sky Shawl, both pictured above.

Check out the lookbook for the projects, and learn more at Annie’s Signature Collection.

[Photos via Annie’s.]

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns.

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn.

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options.

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners.

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set.

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn.

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers.

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.

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