Knit a Sweater with Shocking Stripes

As much as I love my classic sweater designs, I also really like to see sweater knitting patterns that bring in a bit of a twist.

The Shocking Stripes sweater by Tori Yu starts as a pretty standard looking, top down, crew neck, circular yoke sweater worked in sport weight yarn.

But then the stripes come in.

These stripes are shocking not just because of their brilliant color (the yarn company calls it Yollo) but also because you’ll be surprised how easy they are to knit. They look like stranded colorwork done with slipped stitches, but it’s actually a broken seed stitch pattern that’s simple to execute.

The pattern is written for nine sizes, ranging from 36 inches to 68 inches in actual finished sweater size. The design is intended to be worn with about 6 inches of positive ease.

You can of course use any colors that you like on this one, and there are some great examples on the pattern page or Ravelry using two more muted colors, or mixing it up so all the stripes are not the same color.

But if you love the colors of the sample shown (the main color, which looks a little beige to me, is called dusty rose, which is a such a fun throwback name!) you can buy a kit from the yarn company she worked with, The Wandering Flock. The kit with the same colors is available on Etsy, or you can check out their Baby Paca yarn in other colors. I think this rust one would be great for this project as well.

Whether you buy the kit or use your own yarn, the pattern is available for purchase from Ravelry.

[Photo: Tori Yu.]

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I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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