Universal Yarn Creative Network
Inspiration By Design
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, it’s the Building Blocks Blanket in Cirrus Cotton.
Cirrus Cotton is a fuzzy, light, and lofty cotton blend, a great choice as we move into Spring. It knits up quickly on size 9-11 needles, making it perfect for quick baby shower gifts like this 32″ square blanket.
It’s a simple pattern with no fancy stitches, just knits and purls. As with so many things in life, it builds on the basics to create complexity.
Happy knitting!
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, something adorable! The Little Peep Dress is designed in soft, smooth Little Bird. It’s a sleek, high quality 100% acrylic that knits up easily here on a US Size 3 needle.
Designer Amy Gunderson was inspired by the figures on the Little Bird label to create a cute set of feathered friends suitable for any little chickadee. This is a great warm-weather dress for Spring.
These birds are a classic example of the kind of designs you can make with intarsia. If you’re participating in our afghan knitalong, these would be a great use for your new skills (which we’ll be refining further with our new square on Monday).
Happy knitting!
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, the aptly named Dynamo Dolman in Uptown DK!
Like all members of the Uptown family, Uptown DK is 100% anti-pilling acrylic and incredibly soft. In fact, I toyed with the idea of doing my Don’t Be A Square Afghan in either this or Uptown Baby Sport and turning the afghan into a baby blanket. Uptown’s softness and machine washability makes this a great yarn for gifts.
And man, is that 136 Neon Yellow vibrant! Neons are still a big fashion trend, and with warm weather coming up they’re going to be even more appropriate. As we shake off the grip of winter, this lacy top is perfect for the move into summer.
How about you? What’s your favorite kind of project to work on when the weather starts to turn?
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, we share the Starglow Ski Cap in Little Bird. Little Bird is a smooth and soft 100% acrylic perfect for kid designs like this Fair Isle hat. We love the border around the brim that coordinates with the tassels!
This free pattern is one we’ve waited a little while to share. The one color of Little Bird we had not yet received from our mill was gray. Yesterday, we received it (and a lot of other goodies). For this pattern, the lack of one color could be a problem, but it’s also an opportunity for reflection.
Often when we see a pattern made up, we only want it in the color shown. And that’s fine – sometimes, we just fall in love with something exactly as it is. But sometimes, it’s healthy to stretch our imaginations and see it in other ways. What would you do to make this pattern your own?
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Do you recognize this shawl? Today, we’re releasing a “pay” pattern into the wild! The Lace Edge Garter Stitch Shawl is a popular design also found in our leaflet Poems Sock Shawls and Accessories. This is a pattern we get a lot of requests for, and we’re delighted to be able to share it with you for free.
The shawl is knit from the top down, letting the Poems Sock self-shading yarn create a dramatic effect as the color repeats thin out while the stitches on the rows increase. The charted lace edging is knitted on at the end.
This would be a great project to occupy your hands when you need to focus your attention elsewhere. The garter stitch isn’t hard to do, but leads to a great finished object. The perfect project!
It’s Free Pattern Friday Part Two!
More crochet goodness! This is the Color Pooling Argyle Scarf in Uptown Worsted Spirit Stripes.
Spirit Stripes is dyed in team colors, so you can craft a piece for game day that will show everyone who you’re rooting for. Alice Gossette and Kat Koeller came up with this ingenious technique of using half double crochet and clever color placement to get the yarn to pool just so. The result: argyle diamonds!
Who do you root for? Frankly, I always hope for a nailbiter that goes into overtime – as long as I’ve brought my yarn along.
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, we share the Rambling Crochet Cowl. Just two balls of bulky Classic Shades Frenzy on a 6.5mm hook means that this works up in a flash. We love the texture that the double crochet clusters provide, and the way the cowl looks wrapped up snug or hanging freely.
We’re really feeling the crochet love today, so let’s make it a two-fer. Check back in later today for another free pattern!
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
If last week we were snowed in, this week Mother Nature has decided to showcase everything else. Sunny and 70 degrees yesterday, strong gusts of wind last night, and now a real gullywasher of a rainstorm.
Fortunately, we’re crafters. We know what to do when we’re stuck inside. Today we’re thumbing our nose at the nasty weather with the Umbrella Dress in Classic Shades.
The dress is knit in panels – four for the front, four for the back, and two for each sleeve. The collar is knit separately in the round. It’s all stitched together and voila! A colorful dress to chase away the rainy day blues.
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, something soft and sweet for baby. The Lil’ Lightning Baby Blanket is a simple two-row pattern repeat in plush Bella Chenille and Bella Chenille Multi (131yds/100g). Knit on size 11 needles, this is a project that goes fast – perfect for those times you need a baby shower gift in a hurry!
It’s Free Pattern Friday, and we have a new design in Poems!
The Cross the Night Sky Vest by Sandy Huff is worked in one piece from side to side, with stitches picked up for the arms, hem, and neck. The garter stitch tie that threads neatly through the crossed stitches is a nice accent.
Side to side construction creates flattering vertical stripes in self-shading Poems 100% wool – a great use of variegated yarn.