Knitty Deep Fall is Here

I was a little distracted yesterday by Knitty’s fundraising efforts (which in less than a day met their first goal of $7,000 an issue, which will pay for a raise for designers) that I failed to mention it was also new issue day!

So if you missed it, go check it out. Isn’t that cover sweater a knockout? It’s Pierrot by Motoko Takahashi, and I think it’s going to end up in a lot of queues this fall.

Other projects I love include Autumn Rain, a lightweight cardigan by Jennifer Swetland that has a lot of great stitch pattern texture; Emma Welford’s Cirriform, an open cardigan with lattice stitch fronts and a diamond lace inset on the back; Urban Tribe, a reversible cowl by Grace Akhrem, which uses stranded colorwork in two different patterns — and quite a lot of grafting — to make a warm and colorful design; and Floki by Yavonda Reynolds, a fun pair of knee high socks with a stretchy but structured lace pattern and gusset decreases worked on the top of the foot.

See anything you like? I’d love to hear about it.

[Photo via Knitty.]

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

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Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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