Knit the Perfect Argyle Cardigan

Confession time: I have had the yarn to knit an argyle vest for longer than my daughter (who is about to be 14) has been alive.

It’s a pattern from the book Picture Perfect Knits by Laura Birek, which came out the year before she was born. I know I bought the yarn around the same time because it’s the actual yarn called for in the pattern (and even some of the same colors the designer used).

I don’t know why I haven’t knit it.

I just unearthed the yarn the other day because I’ve been cleaning out my yarn cabinet. Maybe this is the year I actually knit it.

This project is on my mind not just because I just found the yarn again, but also because I recently came across this super cute argyle cardigan knitting pattern, which also might need to be on my to-knit list.

It’s a pattern from Marly Bird, and it’s a great one if you’ve never done an argyle pattern before, because it has a lot of detailed instructions and links to videos to help you with the intarsia if you haven’t used that technique before.

Intarsia is different from Fair Isle or stranded knitting because, instead of carrying the unused yarn across the row, you work a section in a color with one piece of yarn, then pick up a new ball for the next section and leave the old yarn where you finished working with it. Because of this it’s easiest to work intarsia in flat pieces rather than in the round, so a cardigan is perfect for that.

This one uses four colors, and the back and sleeves are plain knitting and a solid color, so the cardigan fronts are the only colorful bit. The pattern comes in seven sizes, with a finished chest measurement of 40 to 70 inches, and is meant to be worn with 4-6 inches of positive ease.

You can grab the free pattern on Marly’s website.

[Photo: Marly Bird]

Knit a Single Color Argyle-Style Vest

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.

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