Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Quilt Inspired Knitting Patterns

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I’ve written before about how much I love it when different crafts come together, and I particular enjoy when motifs from one craft show up in another, like the trend toward knitting patterns inspired by quilts. It’s just an extra layer of sweetness and crafty history all in one. 

The project that got me thinking about quilt inspired knitting this time around was the Blouse 3 pattern from Tine Rousing. Of course stars are a common motif in knitting already, but the patchwork nature of this top, worked with two strands of lace weight yarn held together, really reminds me of quilts. It’s worked in garter stitch flat from the bottom up in pieces using lots of intarsia (and charts). It’s finished with a split hem and a button placket and rounded neckline, and it comes in three sizes. You can find it on Ravelry in English and Danish.

Sally Melville’s Poppy’s Garden had to get a spot in this roundup because it reminds me of the grandmother’s flower garden quilts in my family. This one is heavy on crochet because the hexagon motifs are crocheted, but they are joined with knitting and back is knit in a knit-purl diamond pattern. The pattern is available in five sizes and uses DK weight yarn. The pattern includes lots of tips and extra help to get you through any tricky bits. It’s also available on Ravelry. 

The Quilt Block Scarf from Star Crossed Knits is even more straightforward about its inspiration. Here are those classic stars again, this time worked as an allover colorwork pattern worked in the round to make a tube. It calls for worsted weight yarn and you can work the stars in a single color, stripes as shown or just use up stash to make a super colorful project. 

The Once Upon a Quilt socks from Renardeendormie use a patchwork style for the stars on the legs. They’re worked from the top down and call for three colors, but you can use more if you want. There are three sizes and you can adjust to your desired fit. 

Or how about a hat on the same motif? The Ambler Quilt Hat from Katryn Seeburger is a fingering weight hat worked with two colors all around and has a folded over cuff that’s sewed to the body of the hat. The pattern includes six sizes to fit a newborn through adult large. 

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Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.