Rainbow Knitting Patterns for Pride and Beyond

Rainbow is a color scheme that most people like, and it’s an easy way to bring color into your knitting projects without having to put a whole lot of thought into it. Whether you’re stitching for Pride or just for someone who loves cheerful colors, these rainbow knitting patterns are a perfect place to start.

The Paintbox Hoodie by Brooklyn Downer, which is available on Knit Picks, is a great classic hoodie design with rainbow striped sleeves. It includes cropped and standard length options, and four roomy sizes to choose from. There’s also an optional kangaroo pocket. It uses sport weight yarn.

If you prefer allover rainbow stripes, the Rainbow Ring sweater by Stephen West is a great choice. This top-down, circular yoke sweater is worked in fingering weight yarn and is available in nine sizes. The color stripes are worked in stockinette while the background color stripes are reverse stockinette for a bit of added texture. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

Or how about a sweater with bold rainbow stripes? The Pride Jumper from Popsicle Emporium on Etsy uses wide stripes and is available in two sizes. It’s an easy drop shoulder style great for your first sweater project.

The yoke on the Somewhere Rainbow sweater from 1 Knitty Little Thing on Etsy features rainbow stripes in reverse order from the Pride flag, but you can work them in the other direction if you’d rather. It comes in seven sizes and uses DK weight yarn.

Or how about some rainbow-striped leg warmers? The Rainbow Gems leg warmers pattern from The Barbarian Hoarde on Ravelry uses worsted weight yarn in rainbow colors and black. There are three size options so you should be able to keep just about anyone’s legs cozy with this pattern.

And if you’re looking for a quick rainbow project to use up leftovers from a bigger Pride project, try this rainbow striped heart from Marianna’s Lazy Daisy Days. This was meant to be an applique for a baby blanket but you could make two and sew them together to make a tiny pillow, use them as patch pockets on a project, sew onto your jacket or whatever you like.

Or stitch up this pretty teeny tiny rainbow from Rosie Posie Knit Co. on Etsy. It’s worked flat in whatever weight of yarn you like, then you fold it and sew it together into a little amigurumi-style rainbow perfect as a keychain or zipper pull.

Easy Rainbow Knitting Patterns

The Cloudbreak Shawl is Like Knitting a Rainbow in a Cloud

Finished Object: Rainbow Dash Shawl

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It’s been well documented that I love a knitting pattern with a bit of whimsy, so when I saw the Mine! Pullover from Sarah L. Kelly recently I knew I had to share it with you.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to knit a sweater with a yoke full of seagulls? And another seagull at the waist? Chasing little crabs?

The story behind the sweater (and you knew there had to be one, right?) is that while Sarah was traveling around Europe there were a lot of cheeky seagulls about. They reminded her of the scene in Finding Nemo where the seagulls say “mine, mine, mine” and thus the Mine! series of patterns was born.

Oh yes, there’s a whole set. It was the sweater I saw first but there’s also a pair of socks (and the pattern says there’s a cowl, too, but I couldn’t find it as of this writing. If you see it let me know and I’ll add the link here!) so you can totally deck yourself out in pesky seabirds if you want.

But back to the sweater for now. This is worked in DK weight yarn from the top down in the round. The yoke and a section at the bottom are worked in stranded colorwork, with stripes on the body, though you could make the body a single color if you wanted. Details like the beaks and eyes are added with duplicate stitch to make the knitting a little easier.

The colorwork sections are charted. The pattern comes in 10 sizes, with a finished chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 80 to 170 cm.

The socks are worked in sock yarn and come in three sizes. There worked from the cuff down and change needle sizes to accommodate the less stretchy nature of stranded colorwork. You can choose from a side profile or a seagull that’s looking out from the sock. Make a matching pair or mix it up.

Both patterns are available on Ravelry: sweater and socks. If you make them I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sarah L. Kelly]

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