Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Knit a Sweater with Shocking Stripes

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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.]

Have you read?

Add Mushrooms to Your Knits with these Fun Knitting Patterns

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day. 

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details. 

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes. 

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult. 

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather. 

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size. 

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.