Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Wind Powered Fiber Mill

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After all the rushing and traveling for the out-of-state baby shower, I finally found time to catch up on my magazine reading. I am a poor traveler and could not focus while in the plane. (Read – not in control of my bus while flying). So, I picked up my copy of [tag]Vogue Knitting[/tag] [tag]Knit 1[/tag] and started to read the [tag]Green Issue[/tag].

I wonder how many people noticed the sidebar article on Hope Spinnery? From the Home page “Hope Spinnery is a wind-powered fiber processing mill nestled in the hills a few miles inland from the coast of Maine.

Our fiber comes from local farms, we are committed to chemical-free processing methods and use only natural dyes to create our beautiful and striking yarn, knit wear, and other products.“

How unusual, a single 80-foot tower standing atop a hill harnessing enough energy to power all the machinery to produce yarn with sometime additional power available to handle machinery in other parts of the building!

The article mentions that the yarn mill provides hope for the future of viable alternative energies. The owner started as a school teacher and now is into fiber arts. The mill started processing raw fibers, but also now manufactures its own yarn.

In keeping with ecology in mind the business is run with the same ethics that are applied to the owners life. Earth friendly soap is used for scouring, natural dyes (Indigo, Madder, Cochineal, Osage Orange, Native Flowers, etc.) for dying yarns and there is Low-Waste — the by-products of the processing is used for other purposes.

Hope yarn can be purchased at a few yarn shops in Maine, as well as from [tag]Hope Spinnery[/tag].

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

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.