Valentine’s Themed Knit Wristwarmers

Some of you might know that I got my start writing about knitting at the now-defunct About.com. I wrote a lot of patterns for that site, nearly 200 of which are chronicled on Ravelry (though I am sure that’s not all of them).

Since About.com went away, some of the patterns migrated to that company’s new home and hobby themed site called the Spruce, but many others fell off the face of the Internet. I’ve been going through lately and finding the links to them on the Internet Archive and am happy to say as I write this that I’m almost done and should have valid links for all the projects on Ravelry by the end of this week (finding which patterns are not already in Ravlery and adding them will probably take a lot longer).

It’s not a perfect solution, because the Internet Archive pages don’t always show images, and if there were PDF downloads of charts, say, those links no longer seem to work.

Such is the case with these cute Valentine’s wristwarmers. They’re a quick and easy project, great for those who are new to colorwork, and you still have time to make them for the holiday.

As I updated that pattern page I wanted to be able to share the charts as well so that people could actually knit the pattern again. There are JPGs of the charts on the Ravelry pattern page, but the PDFs are now being housed here so you can download and print them. There is a color and a black and white option. These are from back in the day before I had a chart making program so they are hand drawn. It’s fun to see how far I’ve come!

I hope you enjoy this sweet little pattern!

Looking for more Heart-shaped Knitting Patterns for Valentine’s Day? Check these out on Etsy.

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns.

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn.

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options.

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners.

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set.

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn.

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers.

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.

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