Patterns, projects and techniques
Don’t have a clue where to start with your knitting? Well, that’s easy. You start with the toys, I mean accessories. In this post Elisa outlines what you need to get started. What are you waiting for? You’ve got to see the gorgeous scissors she’s collected! Over HERE at the Craft Snob Blog (say THAT fast 3 times!)
As I write this, it’s probably time to start thinking about winter knitting if you haven’t already. And it’s definitely time to think about gift knitting if you have any of that you plan to do for the holidays.
The Dreamy Waves Scarf from Knit Picks, designed by Stacey Winklepleck, would be a great project to go in either category.
It uses two different multicolored yarns and a simple repeating wave pattern to make a project that looks a lot more complicated and dramatic than it is. The gradient look happens naturally just by switching which yarn you’re knitting with.
This pattern uses worsted weight yarn so it’s a pretty quick project even though a scarf is large and this one is pretty wide. It measures 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) wide and 63 inches or 120 cm long. Of course you can make it longer or shorter as you like. As written it takes one ball of each color so it’s a pretty economical project, too.
It’s rated for intermediate knitters but if you know how to do various increases and decreases you’ll be all set. The pattern uses knit 2 together, make 1 left and right, centered double decrease and slip slip knit. All of the stitches are explained in a glossary in the pattern so even if you haven’t done all of them it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
The pattern also includes tons of options for different colorways in yarn that Knit Picks sells, so you can see how different combinations knit up before you buy the yarn. That’s such a great idea!
Of course if you already have two multicolored yarns with long color runs on hand, you can absolutely use them, too. It might also be fun, but would give you a totally different look, to use a solid color and a bunch of scraps or one multicolored yarn to see how the different colors play together. So many options!
You can grab this free pattern and check out all the color options at Knit Picks.
[Photo: Knit Picks]
Summer Shawl and Scarf Knitting Patterns
Heh, when I started reading I assumed you meant knitting the toys, since that’s where I started. And continued. And will probably die that way too.
That’s why most of my free patterns are toys (http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/knit-patterns.html). It’s a good place to start for new knitters because you get to see the results of your efforts quickly, and generally speaking things like gauge and size don’t matter too much. Good for mamas because your kid might outgrow that sweater before you finish it, but toys are appreciated much longer.