Review: Quick Knitted Scarves

I enjoy little pattern collections that don’t include a lot of knitting instruction but do offer lots of ideas about how to make a particular kind of project.

Quick Knitted Scarves, complied by Amy Palmer and published under the Craft Tree imprint from Interweave, is a large-sized booklet containing 18 patterns for a wide variety of scarves (as well as a shawl and a head scarf).

Most of the projects use allover repeating stitch patterns that are pretty easy to memorize, so there are great projects here for newer knitters. But I don’t want you to think these scarves are plain, either. There are some really fun, dramatic projects here, large scale scarves and fun techniques you might not have tried before.

One of the most interesting ones to me is the Pooling Colors Scarf by Lori Gayle, which involves deliberately knitting with a space-dyed yarn so that the colors pool into stripes. There’s also a fun shaded scarf worked in a simple lacy stitch (the Spectrum Scarf by Eunny Jang) and the Wobble Scarf by Michaela Moore, which uses short rows and asymmetrical shaping to break up the colors of a highly variegated yarn.

There are also simple stripes, chevrons, Moss Stitch, a Garter Stitch triangular shawl knit with two different sized needles, even a striped scarf with knit fringe.

If you’re a fan of scarves, this is a great one to check out.

[Photo via Interweave.]

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.

Have you read?