Knit a Sweater for Kids that’s Covered in Fish

Sometimes the trends in the knitting/crafting world surprise me. Like the emotional support chicken. That was one I don’t think anyone expected to take off the way that it did, but it really resonated with people for some reason.

More recently I feel like I’ve been seeing a lot of fish motifs. I guess it hasn’t entirely been recent, since the first catalyst for this I can think of is Caitlin Hunter’s Halibut sweater (see on Ravelry), which came out in late 2021 and has nearly 3,000 projects as of this writing. It’s been big in knitting groups online that I am part of recently (there’s also a cardigan, hat, mittens and cowl if you’d like to wear your fish in some other way).

Then earlier this year I shared a fish-shaped bag, more specifically the Rybka bag, and that pattern garnered a lot of attention from you all. With good reason; it’s adorable.

I also write about cross stitch here at Craft Gossip and have noticed a lot of fish related patterns cropping up, particularly sardines.

The most recent evidence of this trend to come across my screen was the Fischers Fritz sweater pattern from Isabell Kraemer. Apparently the name comes from a tongue twister she helpfully shared on the Ravelry page:

Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische, frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz
[Fisherman Fritz fishes fresh fish, fresh fish fishes fisherman Fritz.]

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, the sweater is a super cute top down, circular yoke design worked from the top down with fingering weight yarn. The pattern includes two different fish charts so you can have the fish swimming up or down, or a combination. There’s also an option for working the ribbing at the neckline, cuffs and hem doubled for extra warmth and durability.

The design is for kids and comes in 5 sizes, for kids 2-4 years up to 10-12 years. One can only hope there might be an adult version soon for all those fishy knit lovers!

Check out the pattern and grab a copy on Ravelry.

[Photo: Isabell Kraemer]

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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