Irish Knitting Fun for St. Patrick’s Day

I’m pretty sure this is the first time in the history of me having this job that I’ve remembered St. Patrick’s Day was coming before it was even March. (And if the shamrock knitting pattern roundups from the last two years are any indication, that’s certainly true, because they were both published at just about the last minute.)

Since I’m giving you more time this year, I thought it would be fun to look at some more traditional Irish (or Aran-inspired, anyway) knitting projects that are great for St. Patrick’s Day or any time of year.

There are of course a ton of these types of projects depending on what sort of thing you want to knit, so we’re just scratching the surface here. A good search at Ravelry or on a large yarn company website will get you lots more ideas.

Sweaters: Check out the His and Her Aran Knits from Bernat Design Studio (pattern is a PDF), the Aran Texture Twinset from Paton’s, the Men’s Pullover Irish Knit (which looks to be a vintage Bernat pattern) or the Aran Cable Shrug from Crystal Palace Yarns.

Accessories: I love the Aran Gauntlets from AslanTrends (free download if registered with Vogue Knitting), Flory Loughead’s Aran Toque and the Modified Irish Cable Scarf from Knit Purl Addict. This Aran Poncho from Patons, originally published in Canadian Living, is pretty darn impressive, too.

Afghans: Maybe the perfect use of Aran patterning to my mind is a big Aran afghan. Anna Dalvi’s Burridge Lake Aran Afghan is a beauty, worked with a central panel that’s symmetrical and panels on each side that are mirror images. There’s also the St. Patrick’s Day Sampler Afghan, which was originally designed by members of the Aranknit list back in 2000-01. You can see pictures of all the squares on Ravelry.

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.

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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