Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Most Popular Patterns of the Year on Ravelry

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Check out the most popular knitting patterns on Ravelry published this year.Just for fun I decided to check out the most popular patterns published this year on Ravelry. If you’re looking for something to make with yarn you got for Christmas or Hanukkah or to get a jump on your New Year’s resolution to use that great yarn already in your stash, you might want to check some of these out!

Note: I don’t know what “most popular” is based on, because there’s something to it other than number of projects made. But searching most popular and published this year, this is the order they are found in.

  1. Waiting for Rain shawl by Sylvia McFadden from the Shawl Joy ebook, C$7.50, 2,125 projects
  2. Talisman Shawl by Helen Stewart, part of the Shawl Society ebook, £14.40 for six patterns, 1,072 projects
  3. Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B. Anderson, $5, 1,433 projects
  4. Building Blocks Shawl by Stephen West, $6.50, 2,521 projects
  5. Pussyhat Project by Kat Coyle, free, 1,501 projects
  6. SlipStripeSpiral socks by Mylene Pijpers, AU$4.50 (free at the time of this writing), 1,138 projects
  7. Spindrift Shawl by Helen Stewart, £4.45 (or free if you join her shawl workshop email list), 991 projects
  8. Pure Joy shawl by Joji Locatelli, $5, 989 projects
  9. Close to You shawl by Justyna Lorkowska, free, 939 projects
  10. On the Spice Market shawl by Melanie Berg,  €5.20 EUR, 1,146 projects

Check out the most popular knitting patterns on Ravelry published this year.Interesting notes: seven out of these 10 most popular patterns are shawls. Two are socks and one is a hat that makes a political statement. Two are free projects (two others are at the time of this writing, too). And two are by the same designer.

Have you knit any of these projects? Or queued them? I got the SlipStripeSpiral pattern and will probably make it as my next pair of socks. And I already had my eye on Building Blocks, but I think a lot of these are gorgeous and definitely worth your time. What do you think?

[Photos via Ravelry.]

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Comments

  1. I think Waiting for Rain looks interesting; however, I, too, thought the sock pattern (Slip Stripe Spiral) would be a hoot to try

  2. Love the pattern “waiting for rain”. I made 3, because this shawl fits comfortably on the shoulder and doesn’t slip. And looks fabulous!

Have you read?

Book Review: Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary

Stitch dictionaries are a fun way to learn new-to-you knitting stitch patterns or to take a deep dive into a particular technique. Debbie Tomkies offers 100 cable stitch designs and thoughts on how to incorporate them into projects in her Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary.

Each stitch pattern is shown in a large swatch photo and with written and charted instructions. Any special stitches are included on the page. The stitches are rated on a difficulty scale of 1 to 3, and the pattern notes also indicate how many extra stitches you should add to a project if you’re going to work this cable (since cables pull the fabric closer together you need to compensate for that) as well as how many stitches and rows are in the repeat if you want to design a project yourself.

The cables are arranged into sections: classic cables, combinations, all-over panels, creative cables, motifs and panels and cabled edges and borders.

It’s fun to flip through the designs to think about projects you can add a single cable or two to or make with an allover cabled design. Or you could make swatches of different cables and sew them together into a pillow cover or a throw.

At the back of the book there’s a section on general cable knitting techniques, reading charts, working swatches and avoiding errors (though it mentions working the wrong number of rows between cable turns, it doesn’t share how to count rows between cables to avoid this mistake).

It also talks about how to design your own cables, combine cables in a project, choose the right yarn and needles and determine how many more stitches you need to cast on when working cables instead of stockinette stitch. There’s also a glossary of symbols and abbreviations you may find in cable knitting and other patterns.

The book provides a good overview of things you can do with cables, as well as some fun things you might not have tried like infinity cables and horizontal cables. It’s a great book for a designer who likes to work with cables or a knitter who wants to play with different stitches in their projects.

About the book: 176 pages, paperback, 100 stitch patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $26.99.