Use Your Stash on this Stranded Knit Sweater

I am known to be a big fan of stash busting projects (I even have a whole little ebook about it!) so when I saw the Stowaway pattern from Wool & Pine I knew I had to share it, and I might just have to make it, too.

The body of the sweater is a solid color, but the sleeves and kangaroo pocket (!) are worked in stranded knitting, which you can make match across the pieces if you have a lot of the same colors, or you can mix it up and use all your odd balls in one place. Or you can use fewer colors than are called for and use a great amount of each color if that’s how your stash works.

This project calls for DK weight yarn, and the pattern lists the weight in grams for each color used so you can go hunting in your stash for just the right thing. And if you don’t have enough leftovers, you can leave off the pocket, though that seems pretty drastic (there’s a cropped and pocketless version shown on the pattern page on Ravelry if you want to see what that looks like.

The pattern comes in 10 sizes, ranging from 32 to 66 inches, or 76 to 168 cm in the chest. It’s meant to be worn with 2-6 inches/5-15 cm of positive ease depending on what works for you. And as mentioned if you don’t want a pocket you can knit a shorter version, or do the longer sweater without a pocket if you’d rather. It’s made by picking up stitches at the bottom front, knitting flat and attaching to the body at the top with mattress stitch; no seaming required!

Check out all the options and grab your copy of the pattern from Ravelry, or buy direct from Wool & Pine.

[Photo: Wool & Pine]

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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.

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