Knit Flags and More for the Fourth of July

The end of June kind of snuck up on me, but there’s one more weekend you can knit some red, white and blue accessories in for use on the Fourth or for any summer celebration. These 4th of July patterns are perfect for your patriotic decorations.

Check out my Fourth of July patterns over at About to get started, and here are some more easy ideas:

This American Flag Garland from 400 Square Foot Living is adorable and really quick to knit. Just make as many pieces as you have time for, use the yarn tails to tie to flags together and you’re done. I’d love these a cupcake toppers, too.

Claudette D’s beer cozy is fit for a 40 oz. beverage and quick to knit in red, white and blue with optional personalization.

The Americana Wrist Cuff from Cirilia Rose (check this Ravelry page for instructions on how to get it) is really lovely and a great piece to wear for any patriotic holiday through the year.

And if you want to keep your hands warm in patriotic style, check out Lisa Bee’s Colbert Nation Gloves, inspired by mitts worn by Stephen Colbert. But you don’t have to be a member of the nation to love these.

Make sure not to miss my Captain America placemat over at CraftBits, too!

Are you knitting for the Fourth, or do you have knit things you bring out for the holiday? I’d love to hear about it.

Next Pattern:

When I knit socks (which sadly I have not done in a while; need to get a new pair on the needles soon!) I generally stick to pretty simple designs and colorwork that isn’t all that detailed.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a fancy sock, I’m also just pretty lazy and I figure a project worked on size 0 or 1 US needles is going to take a long time even without the added work of intricate colorwork, so why make it more complicated?

But there are definitely socks out there I’d be willing to make an exception for, and I think Tangled Bliss by Annette Schleicher may just be one of them.

If you can’t tell from looking, this is decidedly an advanced knitting pattern. There’s brioche for the cuffs, complex looking colorwork done with the ladderback jacquard technique, multiple charts, and colors changing everywhere.

There are links to tutorials for all the special skills in the pattern, but still it would help to have a handle on these concepts before you get started.

The pattern uses three colors of light fingering weight yarn at a whopping 31 stitches per 4 inches/10 cm (that’s 7.75 stitches per inch/2.5 cm).

Would you believe me if I told you that this pattern was designed for a speed knitting contest? Speed would be the last thing on my mind.

But again, I think all the work for these fancy socks would be worth it. I love hoe the colorwork looks like an old tile floor, and think of the bragging rights when you tell people you made them yourself. (Though of course you did; have you ever seen store-bought socks that look anything like this?)

Best of all, this pattern is available for free on Ravelry, so there’s no reason not to give it a try if you’ve got the skills. If you do, I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Annette Schleicher]

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