Helical Knitting Patterns

I recently mentioned that one of the things I wanted to do this year was play with helical knitting. This is a technique that allows you to knit single round stripes without any jogs in the colorwork, which is really pretty, and pretty fun to do, too.

It’s accomplished by slipping the last few stitches at the end of each round, thus moving the end of the round throughout the project. This keeps the color changes from lining up and makes nice smooth stripes throughout the project.

I was hoping by now I’d have my own helical knitting project to show you, but I’m still in the midst of it (a six-foot-long, rainbow striped scarf) but I’ll let you know when it’s finished. In the meantime, some more helical knitting projects for you to try.

I went with a scarf as a first helical knitting project because there’s no shaping, but a cowl works just as well for learning the basics, and it’s a smaller project. Happy Dog Crafts has a cute cowl pattern that also incorporates a fade. This one would be fun to do with minis or just scrap busting. It calls for fingering weight yarn but you could also use thicker yarn for a bigger cowl.

Another fun one but bigger is the Vertigo Cowl from Ashley Cornall, a free download on Raverly. This one also uses fingering weight yarn mini skeins, this time in rainbow colors, but you can make whatever colors you like.

You could also try a helical hat like the Classic Helical Hat from Skacel Knitting (free on Ravelry). This sport weight project comes in two sizes and you can choose yarns with harmonious colors or bolder options.

There are also a lot of sock knitting patterns that use helical knitting while choosing a single color to work the cuffs, heels and toes. Check out for example Anna Zhuravleva’s shortie Helix Basic Socks (free on Ravelry), the Helical Toe-Up socks by Lori Neff (also on Ravelry) or the knee-high Alice’s Striped Helix Socks from Phun Knits, which shows what helical knitting looks like when you use two harmonious colors.

Or how about some fingerless gloves? The Helical Twins pattern from Karin Fernandes uses fingering weight yarn and garter stitch to make a cozy, tweedy looking pair of mitts with a simple opening for the thumb. Find this pattern on Ravelry.

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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