Here at Universal, this time of year always leaves us feeling torn. On the one hand, the chill in the air lets us keep knitting with warm yarns, which is one of the joys of wintertime. On the other hand… we’re ready for spring! And spring is exactly what designer Aubrey Busek was thinking of when she created the Anemone Shawl.
Photo via https://www.dutchgrown.com/
The anemone shawl is named after the delicate anemone wildflowers that bloom spring and fall. What a wonderful way to bring some color inside!
This lovely triangular lace shawl is knit from the top down, starting with a garter tab. The lace sections are both written and charted for your convenience. The entire project will take just two balls of Major.
While Aubrey chose color 136 Caladium to mimic the spring greens and purples of the anemones, there are other floral tones you could use.
135 Toile has beautiful peach/apricot vibes with seafoam accents…
…while 128 Valentine is a glorious array of roses.
Regardless of your choice, this floral-inspired shawl is a perfect bridge between the seasons. We hope you enjoy it.
Frame is named in part as a nod to the yarn used, and in part because it was originally a pattern in the “In The Spotlight” collection of designs in Cinema.
They’re all gorgeous – I really covet the Director sweater – but Frame was chosen to be set free because it’s a great first mitts project in a beautiful yarn.
Cinema is a bulky-weight single with wool, nylon, and just enough cashmere to give it maximum “squeezability,” which is a technical term that I just made up. Cinema comes in both multis and solids, so you can easily mix and match. I did this with the free Hoarfrost Scarf, and was very pleased with the results.
With Frame, though, you won’t need to mix and match, since it’s a one-skein pattern! Worked on US9 (5.5mm) needles, these twisted stockinette mitts are perfect for keeping your fingers free. Maybe free for more knitting? Hmm…
We hope you have a great weekend, and stay warm and dry.
As we look around the world of knit and crochet design, it looks like 2021 is off to a great start! We’ve seen some stellar work – from the intricate to the whimsical – and we’d like to highlight a few that use our yarn.
1. Snooze in Deluxe Worsted
Snooze definitely tends more to the whimsical side, but as far as warmth, it’s also very practical! Sure, there’s that long slip-stitch striped pom pom point, but the body of the hat has earflaps, plus room in the back to be pulled down snug.
All I’d need is a mug of peppermint tea, and I’d feel like a frosty little elf, traipsing through the woods. Designer Linette Grayum used our Deluxe Worsted wool, a staple that comes in a broad palette of colors, so you can choose what kind of elf you’d be.
Designer Maia Discoe shows this one in two color selections, both of which look great. This one uses our Deluxe Worsted Superwash to create a cool-toned beauty.
The design is mostly garter stitch, but uses short rows to create shaping. It’s wider at the ends than the middle, in a bit of a subtle hourglass shape, so you can wrap it around yourself without tons of extra bulk. A really nice design!
Mmmm… cables. Kalurah Hudson holds Uptown Worsted doubled for this one, for the instant gratification of a swiftly growing project. If doubled yarn isn’t your thing, the gauge looks like it would also work with a single strand of Uptown Super Bulky.
I just want to sink into those cables. While holding that rabbit.
Crystal Hiatt of Milly’s Knit Designs came up with this one and shared it with the folks at Stitch & Hustle. The zig-zag rib leads into a colorwork body that’s designed to be the slightest bit chaotic, reflecting the twists and turns in all of our lives at the moment.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I’m a huge fan of Bella Cash. It’s beautiful, soft, and hard-wearing. It’s got a bit of a sheen to it that shows through in this cowl, which is designed in multiple lengths and colors.
Such a thrill – there are more fantastic designs out there than we can fit in a single blog post. It speaks very well to the health of our craft. We’ll definitely be revisiting this topic.
Earlier this week, we shared a pretty pink pullover for Galentine’s Day. Now we’re sharing a big warm hug for Valentine’s Day!
Don’t you just want to dive right in? Fortunately, it’s very easy to do just that! This beginner-friendly crochet pattern is all all single crochet, with a single crochet border around the edge for a tidy finish.
Worked in touchable Bella Chenille Big on a US Size P/Q (10mm) hook, this pattern goes fast.
Plus, you have the joy of relaxing under it while you’re making it!
We hope you have a Valentine’s Day filled with laughter and love. Be sure to show yourself some love, too!
You probably heard – the groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter.
Bleak, Bill. Bleak. We prefer to think of it as six more weeks of working with beautiful cozy wool, while still looking with hope toward brighter days. Enter, the Bouquet Scarf.
This bright and beautiful scarf has has enough substance to keep you warm – especially in Deluxe Worsted Superwash wool – but also acts as a harbinger of spring. Check out the blossoms in the lace!
They remind me of tulips, which start to bloom in our area in mid-March. That’s just about the time the groundhog says we should be emerging from winter.
Via https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/
The scarf uses 1×3 cable crosses and increase/decrease combinations to create definition around the lace elements. We’re classing this as an intermediate pattern. You’ll probably want to use markers around the repeats, just to help keep track. The final result will be well worth the effort.
We hope you have a fantastic weekend, staying safe and warm, and doing things that you love.
Confession: I’m a ‘Winter person’. Don’t get me wrong, Summer is great and all, but there is something about brisk days, warm beverages, and the cozy feeling of Winter that makes me happy. Plus, cold weather calls for great sweaters to knit and wear! Here at Universal Yarn, we have plenty of lovely winter appropriate yarns to choose from, but there is always fun in adding something new to the family. When we first received samples of Penna last year, I immediately fell in love.
Penna is a laceweight blend of 50% baby suri alpaca, 28% extra fine merino, and 22% nylon. This yarn feels like a little puff of cloud in your hands, and adds an ethereal quality to any project. The color palette we created for Penna spans both muted and saturated shades, and all carry a romantic, indulgent feeling well suited to the yarn. Penna works well on its own for loose and airy projects. When held together with another yarn, it adds texture and dimension, which is what I chose to do for Wheel of Life.
Deluxe DK Superwash is our 100% superwash wool DK weight yarn. A fantastic choice for garments and accessories for cool weather, this is a stash staple you’ll love working with. I chose matching colors of Deluxe DK Superwash and Penna for my Wheel of Life sweater, and they are held together throughout. The result is a hazy, buttery soft fabric that feels amazing to wear and keeps you warm.
Published in the Winter 2020 issue of Knitty , the Wheel of Life sweater was inspired by the cycle of life. Something that always stuck with me that I was told when I was younger is: the only inevitable thing in life is change, and you don’t want to get stuck in the wheel as it turns. We can all agree that 2020 was a year like no other, so I think going with the flow and accepting the changing tides of life is something I’m really willing to do in this new year. This sweater feels like a good way to embrace that.
When I first swatched the two yarns together, I was immediately taken by the idea of designing a sweater inspired by art. Something about the hazy texture of the yarns held together made me think of brush strokes in a painting. Visual symbolism in art is something that I have always been enthralled by. Painters use imagery of food and other ordinary objects to place meaning in their works, and we (the viewer) love dissecting the art and attempting to ‘figure out’ all of the hidden gems. I wanted to play with some symbolism in this sweater design, and tell a story with simple imagery in a colorwork pattern.
You can really see the lovely haze of Penna peeking out of the sweater in this closeup. Thank you for the great photos Rachel!
This sweater is knit from the bottom up in the round. The sleeves are worked separately, and joined with the body of the sweater at the yoke. I chose 828 Pulp (Deluxe) and 106 Eggshell (Penna) to be the background color, because Ivory is a classic Winter shade that anyone can wear. After you work the ribbed hem, you move into the lower colorwork section.
The fleur de lis represents the lily flower, which also symbolizes birth or the beginning of life. I chose the darkest colors, 846 Mulberry Heather (Deluxe), and 115 Dusk (Penna) for the fleur de lis and other parts of the colorwork so that they would really ‘lift off’ of the cream background. Above that, the design looks like the infinity symbol, or strands of DNA knit in colors 824 Starfish (Deluxe) and 111 Whisper (Penna). This represents the ‘wheel’ of life, always turning.
The yoke of the sweater features more colorwork pattern symbols. Stars are a fascinating thing. Our sun is considered an average size star in the universe, there are some 100 times bigger! It can take millions to billions of years for stars to die, and some explode when they do, creating a beautiful Supernova. I chose the moon and star design to represent death, because a Supernova is really a beautiful way to go. Thus completing our ‘cycle of life’ in the sweater.
My main goals to achieve with this free pattern were a graphic colorwork design that tells a story, and to showcase these very different yarns working together in harmony. I also wanted this to be a classic design that many people would love to wear. The color palette I chose is intentionally very soft, and a ‘classic’ combination of shades. I know the selection may not be for everyone, so I put together a few more color ideas for those of you who might like something different! Something about knitting that I absolutely love is the ability to take a pattern and choose colors of yarn that make it completely your own. Here are my selections below.
I’d love to hear which color combination you’d choose for your Wheel of Life sweater! I hope you enjoyed hearing more about this design and what inspired it. You can also find this free pattern on Ravelry here .
“Subtle” is the name of the game here. Knitted in the round lengthwise from one edge to the other, two colors of Odette are worked in a simple slipped stitch rib to create vertical stripes on one side, and horizontal bands of color on the other.
The secret to the beautiful blending is in the yarn. Odette is a mix of alpaca and superwash fine merino, blown into a nylon tube for strength. The result is a set of tones that seem rimed with frost, like a kiss of ice on flowers or stones.
The special construction means you get loft and warmth without extra weight. A great way to stay warm without sweltering!
The Ambrosia Cowl is a simple, easy-to-knit design that only takes one skein each of the main color and contrast color. What would you pick?
We hope you have a fantastic weekend, full of warmth and cheer. Happy crafting!
We were about two minutes into 2018’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople when this sweater appeared onscreen and I gasped. Fortunately for cat lovers, the film’s costume designer hired a knitter to recreate the pattern and made it free on Ravelry. You’ve got to have some confidence to wear a sweater like this, but I think we all know someone who could pull it off. In my case, that person is me, and I’m putting this in my queue to make in Adore.
Often, though, it seems like the really spectacular sweaters are on men. I’d like to look at five outstanding pullovers on masculine frames, both the obscure and the famous (I’m looking at you, Chris Evans). Let’s go in chronological order!
Wash’s Sweater from Firefly
This sweater showed up in two separate episodes of sci-fi TV show Firefly, giving it enough exposure for viewers to reverse engineer the cabled design. Never bet against Firefly fans – they’re a devoted and persistent bunch.
Is the show set in England? Expect good knits. This cabled jumper sported by John Watson from the BBC’s Sherlock proves the rule. It didn’t take long for this pullover to be recreated:
And of course, free patterns sprang up. While the original was machine-knit, this pattern on Ravelry has hand-knit versions worked in the round or flat. As for yarn, there are several ways to go: 100% wool with Deluxe Worsted Superwash, or Uptown Worsted anti-pilling acrylic, which is also machine washable (John Watson doesn’t seem like a man who is careful with his laundry).
3) John Watson’s Ugly Christmas Jumper from Sherlock
Can you tell I recently re-watched Sherlock? I’ll confess I lightened up this image so you could really see the power and majesty of this design. It’s meant to be an “ugly Christmas sweater” in the show, but it’s really up to you as to whether you love it or hate it.
The original might have been knit in a bulkier yarn, but this pattern on Ravelry calls for a DK weight, to make it more versatile in other climates. If I were knitting this, I’d use Deluxe DK Superwash in 838 Twilight, 837 Christmas Red, and 828 Pulp.
4) Ransom Drysdale’s sweater in Knives Out
This is the one the knitting internet lost their collective minds over.
Chris Evans’ actual dog wearing a cabled sweater. It’s the ultimate “who wore it better?”
Part of the key here is that it’s not hard to make a sweater look good when you’re Chris Evans, but the other part here is that it was shown from so many angles and in such detail, it was easy to get a good look at it. In terms of screen accuracy, Caryn Shaffer did a bang-up job with her version here on Ravelry.
What yarn to pick for this design? Deluxe Worsted, all day long. To get the perfect color, choose from the Naturals options, 40001 Cream Undyed. It’s got just a bit of buttery warmth to it, which matches the tones of the original. Also, as the name suggests, it’s undyed. The color of the yarn is the color of the sheep, which is exactly the kind of detail that would appeal to the rich young man wearing this in the movie.
I. Love. This. Sweater. I love the color, I love the pattern, and I love that there’s some random Mon Calamari fish-person in a Star Wars show wearing a beautiful cable-knit piece. But here’s what’s killing me. I can’t find a reverse-engineer of this pattern anywhere! Do any of you know of one? Am I going to have to try it myself?
I mean, come on. It’s a fisherman’s sweater on a literal fish-man. What’s not to love?
How about you? What’s a knit or crochet piece that you’ve seen that made you think, “I should make that!” We’d love to know!
The Amaranth Hat takes its name from the amaranth plant, with its gorgeous red spikes.
Image: rareseeds.com. This is definitely going in the garden this year.
In addition to being colorful, amaranth is useful, as a dye, a grain, a leafy green… there’s a lot going on with this showy beauty. And there’s a lot to love about this pattern, too.
Cables, ribbing, texture, and more… all in a piece that takes just one skein of Wool Pop! It’s everything you could want in one package. Rachel Brockman really outdid herself with this design.
We hope you have a fantastic weekend, full of beautiful things.
Big, beautiful, and oh so warm! This set uses 1×1 rib for a thick fabric that’s fun and functional.
The pattern calls for Deluxe Bulky Superwash 100% wool, a yarn I have a special fondness for. I made my daughter a Sequoia sweater (free pattern link) in it a little over a year ago and she still loves it. That sweater has gone through the washer and dryer repeatedly since then, and has held up beautifully.
The main shade here is 332 Icy Grey, with a few rows in 314 Petrol Blue worked at the beginning and end of the project for contrast. There are plenty of ways to make this garment pop, just by changing that border color.
The entire set is worked on circular needles, or use whatever method you prefer when you’re making garments in the round. Knitted on a US size 10 (6mm), it goes pretty fast!
I’m a sucker for something fast, easy, and beautiful. This ticks all those boxes.
Next week we’ll be back with a beautiful accessory in a lighter yarn. We’ll bet you could finish an entire Winter Rib Set before then!
