Happy Knitty Surprise Day

Today is Knitty surprise day, which means a couple more patterns have been released to get you stitching this season. (Note, if you are reading this on Wednesday, their servers may be a bit slow to load because the patterns are new, but be patient and you’ll get there.)

The Fifteen Love Pullover by Brittany Wilson is a pretty three-color top worked from the top down with a kind of slim, retro fit. There are times when you’ll be fiddling lots of strands of yarn, but the effect is well worth it, I think.

In addition to that one, there’s a new sock pattern, Neldoreth by Rich Esnor. These dramatic cabled socks look to me like what Tolkien’s elves would wear if they wore socks; the designer says the name actually comes from “the beech forest on the banks of the River Esgalduin that formed the northern and lesser part of the Kingdom of Doriath in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.” So I was pretty close.

Do either of these catch your eye or are you knitting anything special to celebrate spring? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo by Brian Wilson via Knitty.]

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.

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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