Knit a Yoke Full of Summer Flowers

I’ve lately been looking at a lot of sweaters with simple bodies and colorful yokes because I have some creamy white yarn I want to use in a sweater project but I don’t want to own a white sweater, if that makes any sense.

I will probably be making Isabel Kramer’s Humulus with that yarn, because it’s worsted weight, but if it were a DK I would seriously consider Maryanna by Heidie Reszies.

This folk-art-inspired sweater has large flowers all over the yoke, which would definitely break up that white nicely. It’s designed to be colorwork that isn’t intimidating to those new to the prospect, but still fun for those who are comfortable with the technique.

Fun it definitely looks like. The pattern is $6.50 on Ravelry.

[Photo: Heidi Reszies.]

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Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

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