Practice Short Rows with This Colorful Knit Blanket

I feel like there are a lot of things in knitting that seem hard until you do them. Everything from cable knitting to lace to knitting socks just sounds hard and weird until you try it. Once you understand what’s happening and learn to trust the process, you’ll probably wonder why you hadn’t tried that technique before.

Short rows are one of those things in knitting that gives some knitters pause (and it’s part of why socks seem hard because shaping the heel just sounds weird in words).

If you want to learn how to do short rows and master them in a short amount of time, try the Cozy Claws Knit Blanket from Yarnspirations.

Designed by Erin Black, in is made in blocks of two colors worked in wedges that are shaped with short rows. Because the project is worked in garter stitch this is about as easy as short rows get, and you’ll get a ton of practice making them as you work this blanket.

The pattern calls for five colors of bulky weight yarn (specifically Patons Inspired, which I had never heard of before, but it’s a bulky acrylic and wool blend that’s great for fall and winter knits and is machine washable) and comes out to about 43 inches or 109 cm square. It’s a great size for a little kid or a blanket for tummy time for a baby.

But because the blocks are worked separately you can make your blanket any size you want. And of course you can make it a stash busting project and use even more colors if you have leftover bits of bulky yarn from other projects. Just make sure if you plan to machine wash this blanket and are mixing yarns that all of them can be washed.

You can grab the free pattern for the Cozy Claws Knit Blanket from Yarnspirations.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

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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