Looking Ahead to 2014

Lion Brand Yarn has released its predictions for the state of knitting in 2014. Based on the recent arm knitting trend, they call for more huge knits, as well as more yarn that does the work for us and more personalization of projects.

Pantone says we’ll be seeing orchid everywhere next year, and this pretty purple is a great shade for knitting and other crafts.

Another big trend Lion Brand and others are predicting is the increasing popularity of knit hats. Which makes sense, because hats are usually pretty quick and easy to knit, simple to personalize with different colors and patterns, and you can knit up a bunch to suit all your winter (and spring, and fall) styles without a huge outlay in time or supplies.

What do you think the world of knitting holds in the new year? Personally, I’m holding onto the colorwork trend (since I’m working on a book on the subject). I’d love to hear what you think.

[Photo via Lion Brand Yarn.]

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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