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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Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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