It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, the Flying V Afghan in Uptown Worsted (pattern link).
This modern crochet pattern first appeared in e-book Uptown Favorite Afghans 2.
When we were looking for a colorful crochet pattern to share for Free Pattern Friday, we immediately thought of this collection. It’s easy to see that Flying V is a simple, gratifying pattern that deserves to be shared!
It comes in both large and small sizes, making it versatile for home decor or baby blankets.
Color changes use the intarsia method. Each full chevron requires approximately 35 yds/19 grams of a color. Helpful to know if you’re measuring out lengths ahead of time.
And speaking of color changes, the pattern contains schematics for both versions, plus this completely unfilled diagram, so you can grab your colored pencils and try out your own color combos before casting on. Fun!
We hope you have a fantastic weekend. Happy crafting!
This is part 10 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 2 Edition.
Today I’m happy to introduce the Cardamom and Clove Cover – an ultra-cozy wool blanket that’s perfect to wrap around your shoulders while drinking a warm and wintry beverage!
I grew up in a place where it actually snows (when I say “actually” I mean unlike the meager, quick-to-melt amounts that we receive here in Charlotte, NC). To this day I find there is a lot of magic to snow days, and that was especially true when I was a child.
Living in a rural area, just by the border of a state park, snow days first meant shoveling the driveway followed by playing in the snow-covered woods for hours and hours. I rarely came inside until the tips of my hair were completely frozen and my feet couldn’t hand the cold anymore. Then, I’d make my way back home. While my siblings and I pulled off the six million layers we wore to stay warm, my mom prepared hot cocoa.
What’s nicer than enjoying a warm beverage with a cozy blanket on your lap after spending hours in the cold? So, to accompany this design reveal I thought it would be fitting to share a perfectly spiced hot cocoa with a touch of cardamom and clove. This recipe isn’t overly sweet, but it is very rich.Â
Ingredients – serves fourÂ
12 Days of Winter Kit Collection – Cardamom and Clove Cover Kit
6 oz very dark chocolate (I used 90% cocao)
4 cups of coconut milk (or your milk of choice)
1 pinch cayenne
1 pinch ground cloves
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground sea salt
1 Tbsp maple syrup
First – knit, knit, knit! How are you going to cuddle up and drink hot chocolate under your blanket if you haven’t knit it?! Okay – I admit, hot chocolate is just as good for knitting this kit, so you don’t need to complete this step first!
Pour the milk into a saucepan. Set the stove to low heat. Add the chopped chocolate and stir, slowly bringing the temperature to medium. When the chocolate is melted add the cayenne, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, sea salt, and maple syrup. Stir, sip, and adjust spices and sweetener to taste.
Add marshmallows – or don’t, it’s up to you! It’s a pretty basic recipe that can be adapted however you’d like. I encourage you to have fun. Heck – add some nutmeg in there if you’re feeling really crazy!
Never enough knits – the Mistletoes and Cardamom and Clove Cover are perfect companions for hot chocolate.
Worried about spilling your cocoa on your beautiful blanket? Don’t! The Cardamom and Clove Cover Kit uses Deluxe Worsted Superwash, so it’s incredibly easy to care for.
Remember, you can find the 12 Days of Winter Series 2 patterns on Ravelry.
This is part 2 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 2 Edition.
Meet the Illusion Throw (pattern link)! Made using machine washable Uptown Worsted, this throw is squishy, resilient to pilling (perfect for everyday use!), and the perfect size to throw over your couch.
This graphic throw is inspired by one of my other favorite crafty things: quilting. Illusion Throw is definitely not like your grandmother’s quilt. Rather, it is a knitted interpretation of some beautiful modern and graphic quilts I’ve seen out there in the world.
I wanted to create a project easy enough for beginners (so no complicated shapes or shaping) but entertaining for more experienced knitters, too. The stitches themselves are easy – there is nothing more than knit and purl going on here.
The color changes –Â where white shifts to light gray and then to dark gray – this is achieved using the intarsia technique. I feel like intarsia sometimes has an unpleasant reputation, but it’s actually very simple to do. And there are only a few color changes on each row, so there is no need to have a thousand bobbins hanging off the back of your work.
To change colors with intarsia, all you’re doing is dropping the color you were using, picking up the new color behind the old one (to prevent any gaps or holes in your work) and knitting on. That’s it!
Remember, you can find Series 2 of the 12 Days of Winter Kits patterns on Ravelry.
This soft, squeezable square 38″ x 38″ blanket is perfect for tender-skinned babies.
I wish you could reach through the screen and feel how soft the Bella Chenille Multi is. The wrapped stitches give it just a little extra thickness and texture.
Pet me.
Tip: Because Bella Chenille is a bulky weight yarn, you may wish to securely sew down ends with matching sewing needle and thread. In our experience, the fabric is quite sturdy, so you should be fine just weaving in ends, but it’s another way to finish if you think your project might get a little tough love.
There are plenty of solid Bella Chenille options too, if you want to mix and match or give a different feel. Maybe “bold” is more your style. It’s up to you!
The Oasis Blanket gets its name from the bursts of color set into the gray background.
Each one is an oasis.
Worked in Adore (273yds/100g), a soft blend of superwash merino and anti-pilling acrylic, it’s a great piece that’s soft enough for babies but sturdy enough to stand up to the washing machine.
Each motif is worked separately, making this a very portable project. It also makes it easy to adjust the size on this 31″ x 31″ blanket as you wish – add another row of squares or take one away as needed.
If you’re like me, you love cables. Cables are especially exciting when the fabric is reversible. Yep, the Reversible Cable Blanket really is reversible (did you think we were kidding with that name?).
The backbone of this pattern simply is K2, P2 Rib framed by a border of garter stitch. Every 8 rows two sets of K2, P2 stitches are crossed, creating an elegant cable and reversible fabric. That’s really all there is to this pattern!
Cables, glorious cables!
Major is a perfect medium for this pattern. It’s quick to knit, incredibly soft, and easy to care for. Major is a bulky weight, 100% acrylic yarn that comes in a generously sized 200-gram ball. There are many beautiful, self-shading colors of Major ranging from perfect pastels to bold, vibrant beauties, and no-nonsense neutrals. It’s no wonder that this yarn is a customer favorite.
Better yet, this pattern is written in two sizes: a baby blanket and throw blanket size. Make one as a gift and another to keep for yourself. After all, you surely deserve to cuddle up to a squishy, cabled blanket.
You know those pretty balls of yarn that you look at and love, but you also think, “this looks neat, but what would I do with it?”
Voila. The Wraparound Blankie answers this question by pairing self-patterning Uptown DK Magix with solid Uptown DK to create mitered angles and panels bordered by coordinating bands of vibrant color.
The nice thing about self-patterning yarn is that you really don’t have to do much work to make a complex design. Pick two colors of the solid, two colors of the self-patterning, and go! This pattern is worked in pieces and seamed together, making it a good travel project. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to work on a blanket without actually having a full blanket on your lap.
We hope you enjoy this project, and have a great weekend.
Entrelac is one of those techniques that seems tailor made for self-striping yarn like Major. Here’s it’s taken one step further by using two complementary colors.
Major 117 GraphiteMajor 104 Pebbles
The gray tones blend beautifully, making the blue a subtle contrast against the background.  Is this a cloudy sky, or a clear night with the first bit of blue beginning to show?  That’s for the viewer to decide.
There are a lot of ways you could go with this. Instead of gray and blue, how about gray and green for more of a stones-in-grass feel?
We love this design for the way it uses Major’s self-striping qualities. Â Two complementary colors, 103 Capri and 105 Aloe, are swapped every other row. Â Crochet two rows with A, then two with B, etcetera. Â There’s no need to cut colors, you can just carry them up the sides as you go.
This free pattern is written and charted. Â It’s a six-row repeat that’s easy to memorize. Â Pretty timely for those of us who need a jump start on making gifts!
Tune back in tomorrow for another Major pattern! Â Happy crafting!
Cute, right? Â I love this creative use of self-striping yarn. Â You start each square at the center, then work your way out to the edge. Â It ensures that each square will coordinate, but still be different than its neighbor. Despite being a larger piece, this is a great carry-along knit because each square is worked separately and then pieced together.
The pattern calls for two of our newest yarns, Adore and its companion Adore Colors (273yds/100g), a DK-weight blend of soft superwash merino and acrylic that’s perfect for projects like this, that you’ll probably find yourself tossing in the washing machine sometime.
Also on my list to try in Adore Colors: the Beachcomber Blanket pictured at right. Â It makes such clever use of individual panels stitched together, to be sure those color repeats stay nice and long, rather than thinning out of the width of a blanket.
No matter your plans for the weekend, we hope you take some time to make something beautiful, just for you.
