Knitting for Holi

Holi is not really a holiday that you hear much about in the United States. It’s a traditionally Hindu holiday that usually falls in March and marks the beginning of spring, as well as reminding people that good triumphs over evil.

The reason this holiday should resonate with knitters is that it is also known as the festival of colors, and one of the traditions of Holi is to throw colored powder (called gulal) or colored water on people. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s a great reason to break out colorful yarn and fun knitting projects that use a lot of colors.

For instance, the Holi Mitts from Jaya Srikrishnan, which are found in the book Color Style. It’s a super cute slip stitch pattern that actually makes using that many colors pretty easy.

Amanda Jones had a gorgeous cardigan pattern called Holi in The Knitter magazine back in 2011. Even without the pattern to go by, this is a really inspirational project.

Dagmar Reinschmidt has a great set of patterns called Holimoli, which includes a few hat variations, mitts and a cowl. The fingerless gloves are available for free, while the others can be purchased individually or as a set.

Charles Gandy has a pair of colorful socks called Holy Moly that have intentionally made holes in them (but in a really cool way) that I think would also be appropriate for Holi. Or just pull out your brightest sock yarn and make yourself a simple pair of Holi socks.

I also wanted to note that Madeline Tosh makes a colorway called Holi Festival, which is white with colorful flecks, as if it had been hit with gulal. You can check out all the projects that have been made with it on Ravelry for more colorful inspiration. I actually have a skein of this yarn and am now thinking hard about making a Honey Cowl with it because these look so pretty. What would you make with this colorful yarn?

Looking for more knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

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The felted slipper craze that began last year doesn’t seem like it’s fading away. The Sailor Slippers, often striped knit and felted slippers made with super bulky yarn, because the project of the moment late last year (check out more knit slipper options in this post all about sailor slippers) and they’re still consistently popular with knitters.

Which makes sense because they are fun and fast to knit, and seeing them go from this giant thing to something that actually fits a foot feels a little magical.

I have always loved felting (in fact my first book was about felting knitting) and it’s always fun for me to see people rediscover this technique.

If you’ve knit enough plain slippers to fit all the feet you know, maybe it’s time to stitch up some tabi style slippers instead.

Maymade Knits has designed these cute tabi ballerina slippers, made with bulky yarn and felted. They’re worked flat at first and then in rounds, and are available in 10 EU sizes (the Internet tells me add 31 to your American shoe size to get your EU size). The designer says the slippers are meant to have a close fit and you should choose a size a little smaller than your foot for the ideal fit.

The pattern includes a video tutorial along with the written pattern.

You can grab this pattern on Ravelry. The same designer has her own version of the striped felted slipper as well, called Sarah’s Striped Slippers. These are worked in super bulky yarn and have a contrasting foot and a striped body. These are knit flat and seamed and there are 7 size options available. Check that pattern out here if you’re looking for a more traditional slipper shape. They also look roomier so you can wear them with socks if you like.

[Photo: Maymade Knits]

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