Happy Year of the Horse!

It’s officially the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac, so I thought it might be fun to take a look at some knitting patterns that incorporate horses.

How about a knit hobby horse? Of course! Here’s one from Destany Fenton that has lots of great pictures. Or knit a hobby horse washcloth with this pattern form Smariek Knits.

You can knit an actual horse with help from the post How to Knit a Horse by womantalk, the Dream Toys horse pattern from Claire Garland and the Self-Supporting Knit Horse from Tricoty (translation).

If you’re looking for kid’s hats that look like horses, check out Horsing Around by NimCraft and the horse among Barbara Bazzocchi’s hats for kids patterns.

Kimberly Kwan’s Horse Illusion Knit would make a fun scarf or washcloth.

Knit a big felted bag with a horse on the side via the Berroco pattern Hippodrome, designed by Lina De Montigny.

DROPS Design has a cute kid’s sweater with a horse head on the front, while Susan Springett has the Wild Horses Vest on Ravelry and Crochet Knit Wits has an awesome double-knit scarf with horses running along the length.

Happy New Year to all my fellow Horses and everyone else out there!

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

Have you read?