Knit Up Some Quick Handwarmers from Blue Sky Alpacas

Speaking of easy cable knitting patterns (as I was yesterday), here’s another great, free, quick, exceptionally useful project that’s great for holiday knitting or just for you if you happen to work in a cold office and want to keep your hands warm in a stylish way.

LoveKnitting has a free pattern for cabled handwarmers from Blue Sky Alpacas. They feature a single large cable down the center back of the glove, and the rest of the pattern is ribbed, so they should fit a range of sizes and be pretty darn quick and easy to knit.

And Blue Sky Alpacas’ yarn is just lovely, so this is a great excuse to try it out if you haven’t already (or use some heavy worsted from your stash; I won’t tell).

LoveKnitting requires free registration to download patterns, but it’s a small price to pay for all the cuteness they share.

[Photo via LoveKnitting.]

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Sometimes I feel like knitters get intimidated to try new things because they think they need to start with a big project. Your first time working in the round doesn’t need to be a sock, and your first colorwork doesn’t need to be a sweater, for example. You can find little projects that use the skills you want to learn to build your confidence before you move on to something that requires more time commitment.

This adorable knit bunny, for example.

The colorwork bunny from Knit Picks was designed by Amy Munson and is a kind of bowling pin shaped bunny complete with a knit hat, contrasting inner ears and a little stranded colorwork on its body. Note that the ears are attached the the hat not the bunny, but you could stitch them to the bunny if you’d rather.

It’s worked from the bottom up and also has a tiny pompom tail you can’t see in the picture but it’s a really cute touch. There are a variety of little fair isle patterns to choose from to make the best bunny for you.

The bunny comes out about 8 inches tall (or just over 20 cm) and use several colors to complete the colorwork, depending on the design you choose.

You can purchase the pattern by itself from Knit Picks, or make a kit that includes sport weight yarn in all the colors you need for your creation. There are gray and brown options for the main body of the bunny, but of course if you’re using your own yarn you can make it whatever color you like.

Once you’ve tried colorwork (maybe also working in the round and shaping if those are skills you haven’t used before) in a little project like this you’ll be ready to take on something bigger in no time.

Check out the pattern on Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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