Wear Your (Knit) Heart on Your Sleeve

There are lots of patterns for knit hearts out there (I’ve even published a few, and might yet have one more in mind this season), but I loved this little knit heart applique from Red Heart for its playful presentation as a sleeve patch.

You can use little hearts like this in all sorts of ways: as decoration, on greeting cards or gifts or, yes, stitched to clothes.

They’re universally pretty easy to make and don’t take a lot of yarn (and you can knit the in colors other than red and pink, of course), making them great stash busters and time fillers this time of year or any other.

This pattern is just one of a trove of Valentine’s Day themed patterns for knit and crochet you can find at Red Heart if you need some other ideas.

Are you knitting anything for Valentine’s Day? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Red Heart.]

For more Valentine’s Day knitting pattern roundups, check out my collection of knit hearts and heart-themed scarves.

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

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Beautiful people and beautiful sweaters combine in Lasse L. Matberg’s Viking Knits. The book includes more than 40 Scandinavian inspired knits for men, women and children featuring textured stitches and colorwork.

Matberg is known as The Viking and has worked as a chef, naval officer, fitness instructor and model, as well as being on a couple of reality TV shows. He comes from a long line of makers and his book was first published in Norwegian in 2021 and has since come out in an English version.

The book is divided into sections including everyday sweaters, knits for the great outdoors, stylish knitwear, Norse sweaters and accessories. Some of the patterns use the same designs in different versions for men, women and children. I counted seven projects rated for beginners, 19 for intermediate knitters and 17 for experienced knitters. The more difficult patterns tend to have allover colorwork or stitch patterning.

The pattern stitches and colorwork are shown in charts, with a little bit of text to tell you how to make the garment. Most of the book is sweaters, but there are also hats (sometimes coordinating with sweaters), scarves and a couple of sitting mats.

You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry. Some of my favorites are the more basic ones, such as the Power Sweater, a close-fitting (sized for men) ribbed sweater; the Heart Sweater, a raglan with allover lice stitch; and the Midsummer Sweater, with textured stripes and a henley neckline. I also like the Breeze designs (there are versions for men, women and children) that have colorwork diamonds on them.

Sizing on the garments varies, but there are six sizes for the men’s patterns (noted as small through XXL and then Lasse sized), six for women (XS to XL) and three for children (age 2-4, 6-8 and 10-12).

The yarns used in the book aren’t available in the United States but you can find suppliers here if you want to use the same yarns. Otherwise the book gives a lot of details about yarn content and gauge so you should be able to find good substitutes wherever you live.

If you have Norwegian or Scandinavian heritage or just like the look of cozy textured or colorful sweaters, this book is a lot of fun, and the eye candy is pretty great, too.

About the book: 192 pages, hardcover, 43 patterns. Published in English in 2023 by Search Press. Suggested retail price $29.95.

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