Spider Knitting Patterns

Spooky season begins in my house on Sept. 1, so you know all the knit pumpkins are out and I’m thinking about new ways to add yarn to our fall decor. How about some knit spiders? They can hang out among the pumpkins, be added to a holiday wreath or add some spooky flair wherever you need it.

Let’s start with the smallest ones, in case you need an instant gratification project, or a tiny spider to hide somewhere to scare someone. This one from Cute Knit Toy on Etsy is knit in the round and has I-cord legs, and quite a few eyes and other embellishments.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Lara Breese (free on Ravelry) uses DK weight yarn and also has a body worked in the round and I-cord legs. This one was designed to dangle from a knitting bag or be a small toy for a child. It’s a great use for a precious little bit of yarn, too.

Eek the Spider by Susan Claudino (on Ravelry) is super cute and relatively small, and would be a good use for some leftovers if you want to make it in different colors or with striped legs as shown. This one can be made with any weight of yarn, but the ones listed on the pattern page are worsted weight and make the spider about 6 inches/15 cm long.

Shelia Bond’s The Friendly Spider (also from Ravelry) can use any weight of yarn but the designer says they use leftover sock yarn, which is a great idea and makes them all unique and colorful. These take just a few minutes and a few yards (25-35, or 23 to 32 meters) of yarn, so it’s a great project to make with leftovers.

So Simple Knit Studio on Etsy has a cute pattern for a spider that’s just a little fuzzy thanks to the fun yarn choice. You can use any yarn with a bit of a halo or pick a smooth yarn for a different effect.

Arachnophobia Spider by Revati Poole (free on Ravelry) is probably the most involved project in this list of spider knitting patterns. It uses bulky weight yarn and the pattern notes say the body is easy but the legs are a little fiddly. If you scroll the finished projects you will see lots of different ideas for how to add legs if you need an easier way.

Finally, if you’re a circular knitting machine user, you can make this lovely spider pattern from Peace Love and Moki on Etsy. It looks like if could be made with any size machine and use small panels or an I-cord maker to make the legs.

Batty Socks to Knit for Halloween

Halloween Hat Knitting Patterns

Jack O’Lantern Halloween Knitting Patterns

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

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