Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Knit Socks with Gate-Inspired Colorwork

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I’ll admit to not totally understanding the appeal of fancy knit socks. I enjoy knit socks (both wearing and knitting them), but my socks are generally super simple, stockinette or a basic textured stitch pattern. For me socks are all about warmth and comfort and much less about how they look.

But then I come across a pattern like Palace Gate by Tiina Kuu, and I wonder if I should rethink my position on fancy knit socks.

These lovely socks include colorwork inspired by the gates of Buckingham Palace (they were designed in memory of Quenn Elizabeth II). The rest of the sock has a pretty textured stitch pattern. There’s even a little picot cuff for extra frills.

The pattern uses two colors of sock yarn (choose high contrast colors so the gate really pops) and uses a chart for the colorwork sections. The socks are worked from the top down and feature a strong heel.

The pattern is available in four sizes, ranging from 60 stitches to 78 stitches.

It’s available as a free download on Ravelry, or you can get a pay what you want version from PayHip.

If you’re new to knitting colorwork, you might want to know more about color dominance in knitting. Since the gate is the part you want to stand out, you’d want to work with that color to the left, whatever that means for the way you knit colorwork.

Want more Queen-inspired knits? This collection of Queen Elizabeth II knitting patterns was put together for her Jubilee, but they are still great patterns to stitch in her memory. Or how about knitting a royal corgi?

[Photo: Tiina Kuu.]

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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.