Knit a Flock of Flamingos Hat

Winter is coming for us in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s just a fact. But we don’t have to give up on bright colors and fun, whimsical, even summery feeling knitting projects while we’re waiting for it to warm up again.

We can keep cozy in knit hats festooned with a flock of flamingos if we want.

Stephanie Lotven is here to help us out with that project, thanks to her Flock of Flamingos hat knitting pattern.

This one uses four colors to make the flamingos themselves as well as a watery background at the bottom of the hat, a lighter sky and a colorwork pattern at the top that evokes sunshine. There’s an optional chart for adding duplicate stitch beaks and eyes to the flamingos (and a video tutorial is included in case you’ve never done that before) but they’re really cute either way.

The pattern uses fingering weight yarn, and you might just have some leftover sock yarn in your stash that would work for some of these colors. If you want to use the exact colors used in the sample, you can grab a kit from Emma’s Yarn. There are actually a few different color combos there if you want to change it up a bit. You could also change up the background colors so that the birds are standing in sand with a blue sky background. You could probably even work with the same background color throughout if you like, but the change is fun, too.

You should look through the projects on Ravelry to see different color options that people have used to get more ideas, especially if you want to use your stash.

I’m not saying knitting this hat will totally chase away your winter blues, but it’s sure to bring a smile to your face as you knit it and when you wear it.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Stephanie Lotven]

Animal-Inspired Sock Knitting Patterns

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Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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