Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

How to Make Your Own Ombre in a Knitting Project

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ombre knitting patternsAn easy way to change the look of a knitting project is to knit stripes instead of working in a solid color, and one fun way to make stripes is to use an ombre palette.

Ombre simply means graduated colors, so you might use, say, several different shades of blue in a project (I did this on a pair of mitts in my latest book).

If you’re not sure how to make your own ombre, Red Heart has some great tips on its blog. The sample swatches show crochet, but it works the same in knitting.

The post lays out several options for making color choices and combining them in a project, whether you do solid stripes like I did on my project or work with several strands of yarn at once and change out colors one at a time for a more blended effect. Either way, making a project ombre is a lot of fun.

Have you ever knit an ombre pattern before? I’d love to hear about it!

Looking for more Ombre Knitting patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

[Photo via Red Heart.]

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Comments

  1. I would prefer to buy a skein of yarn already dyed in ombre, rather than having to buy so many different skeins and then having to figure out what to do with all the leftover. Of course, it would depend on what the project is and what kind of effect you want. For a simple scarf, mitts, or dishrag, I would go with a pre-dyed skein.

Have you read?

Book Review: Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary

Stitch dictionaries are a fun way to learn new-to-you knitting stitch patterns or to take a deep dive into a particular technique. Debbie Tomkies offers 100 cable stitch designs and thoughts on how to incorporate them into projects in her Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary.

Each stitch pattern is shown in a large swatch photo and with written and charted instructions. Any special stitches are included on the page. The stitches are rated on a difficulty scale of 1 to 3, and the pattern notes also indicate how many extra stitches you should add to a project if you’re going to work this cable (since cables pull the fabric closer together you need to compensate for that) as well as how many stitches and rows are in the repeat if you want to design a project yourself.

The cables are arranged into sections: classic cables, combinations, all-over panels, creative cables, motifs and panels and cabled edges and borders.

It’s fun to flip through the designs to think about projects you can add a single cable or two to or make with an allover cabled design. Or you could make swatches of different cables and sew them together into a pillow cover or a throw.

At the back of the book there’s a section on general cable knitting techniques, reading charts, working swatches and avoiding errors (though it mentions working the wrong number of rows between cable turns, it doesn’t share how to count rows between cables to avoid this mistake).

It also talks about how to design your own cables, combine cables in a project, choose the right yarn and needles and determine how many more stitches you need to cast on when working cables instead of stockinette stitch. There’s also a glossary of symbols and abbreviations you may find in cable knitting and other patterns.

The book provides a good overview of things you can do with cables, as well as some fun things you might not have tried like infinity cables and horizontal cables. It’s a great book for a designer who likes to work with cables or a knitter who wants to play with different stitches in their projects.

About the book: 176 pages, paperback, 100 stitch patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $26.99.