Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Knit a Three Color Zigzag Shawl

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It might be a little early for folks in the Northern Hemisphere to be thinking about fall knitting, but that’s the only thing I can think of when I look at the Electric Sheep shawl knitting pattern from Beata Jezek for Hedgehog Fibers.

I think that’s because it uses tweed yarn, which always makes me think of cozy cabled sweaters and all the things we love when the weather starts getting cooler.

I usually will talk about how you can use any yarn you like for any knitting project, and of course you can, but in this case I think the tweed yarn really adds something fun. While the colors are generally neutral, the little flecks of color from the tweed make the design more interesting both to knit (as you’re waiting to see what happens next) and to wear. It’s like a shawl covered with sprinkles!

The asymmetrical triangle is worked from the center point out, with increases and decreases shaping the shawl and creating the zigzag effect. Three coordinating colors of yarn are used to give a sort of fade effect. While it’s pretty in grayscale as shown, it would be great with more colorful yarn choices as well.

The yarn is DK weight, and the finished shawl is about 24 by 75 inches, or 60 by 190 cm. As always you can try a different weight of yarn to make a project that’s a different size, but again, if you have access to a tweed yarn it does give this project a distinctive look I think is worth keeping. 

You can download a free copy of the pattern when you sign up for email updates from Hedgehog Fibers. If you like you can also check the pattern out on Ravelry, but you can’t download it directly from there. But it is a great place to check out how the shawl looks in different colors.

[Photo: Beata Jezek]

A Shawl to Wear While You’re Reading and Knitting

Mosaic Shawl Knitting Patterns

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Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.