Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Have You Ever Knit with Fabric?

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Knit a funky pillow using fabric as yarn.Knitting with fabric, whether T-shirt yarn or another material, can be a lot of fun. It’s usually pretty bulky yarn, meaning you can knit up a project in a flash that has a lot of texture and personality.

For example, there’s this fabric cushion from We are Knitters. It’s worked in two pieces in double moss stitch, with tassels for the ends. The company sells a fabric yarn to go with this free pattern, but you can also make your own to make this a recycling/upcycling project as well as a fun accessory for your home.

Check out my instructions for making T-shirt yarn, which is similar to making fabric yarn. I have a friend who has a ton of old sheets torn up for photo backdrops, and I’ll bet they’d work for knitting as well.

Have you ever done this? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via We are Knitters.]

Comments

  1. Oh yes – I just recently finished crocheting a rug using a ball of fabric scraps (that were sewn together – a garage sale find!) I haven’t posted it to my blog yet, but here’s a photo on my FB page:

    I love how squishy they are! I also used T Shirt scraps to make yarn and knitted it up as a rug for our bathroom. Loved that too!

Have you read?

Knit a Classic Aran Cardigan with this Free Knitting Pattern

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]