Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Why Not Knit a Quill Pen?

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It is well known that I’m a fan of zany and off the wall knitting projects, but when they can be a little weird and also useful at the same time? Sign me up. 

That’s the ground we’re covering today with the Quill Feather design from Jessica Goddard. This pattern for a knit feather quill is designed to have a hollow for a pen or pencil, so you can write fancy without having to harvest a feather of your own and turn it into a pen. 

The pattern has two versions: one is a tail feather, which is symmetrical, and a wing feather, which is not. Either way, the pattern calls for DK weight yarn, and it’s worked in a single piece on double pointed knitting needles, though there’s only a little bit that is actually worked in the round. 

The designer says your yarn should match the pen or pencil that you’re planning to cover, but it might also be fun to make them more accurate to bird colors. Or just make a fuchsia one, just for fun. No judgement here.  

Whatever you choose, the pattern is pretty quick and easy once you get the hang of the increase that’s being used. 

Some things about this pattern than might be appealing to you: it only has two ends to weave in and you don’t have to block it unless you want to. The ribbing stitches will stand out a bit more if you do, but it’s really fine either way. There is a little grafting involved, but that’s the hardest thing you’re doing here.

This is such a fun little project and a great way to use up little bits of yarn left from other projects. 

If there’s a little kid in your life, they’re sure to love having a “feather pen” to write with. Heck, many adults in you life would also be pretty thrilled by it. 

You can grab the free pattern from ODDknit.

[Photo: Jessica Goddard]

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]