What’s Your Favorite Thing You’ve Ever Knit?

August 18, 2023 by Sarah White

I’m not sure this is a question I could answer, but what’s your favorite thing you’ve ever knit?

One of my favorites is definitely the Color Belt Sweater (Ravelry link) from my Colorwork Knitting book, because I’d had that design in my head for years and it came out just the way I wanted. It always makes me smile when I wear it.

Or maybe it’s the first pair of toe-up socks I knit, which fit perfectly and made me think I should always knit socks toe up (I don’t, but I do love that style). Or it could be the hat I knit my daughter while she was in the NICU, or the Harry Potter robe I knit for her birthday one year, or the blanket that’s on her bed that she loves so much. Or any number of sweaters I’ve knit and loved to wear through the years. Or the giant wool blanket I snuggle under on the couch every winter.

Point is: don’t make me chooose!

The Guardian, for reasons I’m unsure of, recently asked some people about their favorite knitting projects, or the ones that bring them the most pride, and their answers are way better than mine. They’re all sweaters, which I love, and they have very different stories. There’s an amazing sweater with a colorwork parrot on it, a couple of sweaters the knitters designed themselves, and a sweater that inspired a matching garment for a dog.

These stories are worth your time because they’ll make you feel good about being a knitter. And if you’ve never knit a sweater before they just might inspire you to make that your next project.

I would love to know what your favorite project is, or what you’ve made that you’re most proud of. Or if you’re like me and can’t name just one! Let’s talk about it.

[Photo from Kirsty Nottle via The Guardian.]

Have you read?

A Shawlette with a Ton of Design Options

There’s a lot to like about the Eloise Bandana from Katryn Seeburger. This cute little colorwork triangle can be worked as a bandana or kerchief size or a bigger shawlette.

It’s worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn so you can use whatever yarn you have in your stash and just make it as big as you can (since it is worked from the bottom up).

You can see the two sizes from the photo, and also two colorwork options: strawberries and lily of the valley.

But that’s not all the choices you have. In fact, there are 34 different charts you can choose from to knit onto your project. Some of the options include happy faces, a lobster, a pumpkin, a snail and a butterfly. There are cherries, peaches, tomatoes and radishes.

There’s even a blank square you can use to draw your own little design if you want to use something else. Or keep it blank and make it a plain checkerboard design.

And while both of these shawls use the same icons throughout, you could also use different designs throughout if you want. Say a fall version with a bat, pumpkin, leaf and acorn, or a summer beach theme with sailboat, fish, lobster and a bird? I keep suggesting four different icons because the larger size has four rows of squares, but the smaller has three, so you could do stripes of the same icon or alternate a couple of different ones, whatever you like.

Look through the finished projects on the Ravelry project page to see lots of different options, from rows to individual icons. There are also some projects that are smaller than the suggested size to make a smaller bandana. You could also keep going a make a bigger shawl working increases in the same way as you have been going.

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Katryn Seeburger]