Giant Knitting is Big

There are lots of different ways to knit, using needles, a loom, your fingers or your hands. And there are lots of scales on which you can knit, from teeny tiny projects that might fit a mouse to human-scaled objects and gigantic projects literally worked on broomsticks or bigger needles.

This story is on the big side. Huffington Post recently wrote a story about knitting on a large scale, and though the lede paragraph is horrid (knitting is the new black and a reference to rocking chairs in just two sentences), it is interesting to see the giant blankets and other projects that can be made when you work with giant yarn and needles.

While the story is mostly talking about projects that are so big they wouldn’t use even conventional jumbo yarns and needles, this is a trend we can all try on a slightly smaller scale by using really big yarn and needles, holding multiple strands of yarn together to make a larger yarn or even doing arm knitting, which makes much bigger stitches than you can get with standard needles.

Do you like the big knitting trend? Have you knit with jumbo yarns? This time of year is a great time to consider it if you still have gift knitting to do!

[Photo from Instagram user lilyandpeabody, via Huffington Post.]

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

Next Pattern:

Comments

Have you read?

Leave a Reply