Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Review – Cowlgirls!

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Whether its cowls, gaiters, snoods, bandannas, collars, necklaces or scarves, Cathy Carron’s Cowlgirls brings you the variations that you love.

Knit them back and forth. Knit them in the round (and a chart showing how to go from one to the other), this book revels in accessories to keep your neck warm and snuggly in stripes, laces, braids and cables, stitch patterns.

Forget tired scarves and bulky turtlenecks—funky, chunky, hip and happening cowls are where it’s at! Following up her hit book Hattitude, author and designer Cathy Carron weaves a fashion statement that puts in-the-know women head and shoulders above the rest. Among the more than 40 patterns provided here are a cozy neck wrap featuring a built-in iPod holder, a lacy drawstring hood, and a woven necklace sparkling with Swarovski crystals.

Comments

  3. Just completing “Hidden Treasure”. Looks great only problem is there are errors, this is the 1st cowl I’m making, hope there aren’t errors throughout the book.
    You don’t k2 p2 on rows 2 & 4 and bind off on
    row 3. Things start to go wrong when you get to the buttonhole flap as this is the one complicated row in the whole project.
    Just read it through and do what makes sense to you and not what it says!

Have you read?

Pencil Knitting Patterns

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns! 

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil. 

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn. 

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point. 

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up. 

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.