Pattern Spotlight: Wee Pumpkin

November 15, 2023November 14, 2023

Pattern Spotlight: Wee Pumpkin

Happy Wednesday fiber folks! We hope you’re enjoying your autumn so far. Crisp, breezy days paired with fiery foliage add to the fall magic, and we’re all looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday next week. To celebrate, we’ve decided to revisit an oldie but a goodie: the free Wee Pumpkin pattern (link), designed by Amy Gunderson.

Originally designed in 2014 for the now-discontinued Poems yarn, we thought the pattern would be the perfect match for Rico Design’s Creative Melange Chunky. This machine-washable blend of virgin wool and acrylic is a soft, cushiony single ply yarn. It’s a joy to knit because of the self-shading print that makes every stitch exciting as you travel from one color to the next. Creative Melange features a palette of 31 colors, and one of the newest colors seemed like the ideal match for the Wee Pumpkin pattern – #075 Autumn. The warm harvest shades of this colorway reminded us of the many varieties and colors found in everyone’s favorite fall fruit: the pumpkin!

The pattern is a fun knit for adventurous beginners and seasoned knitters alike. Skills to indulge in include wrap and turn short rows, picking up stitches, basic increases and decreases, and seaming. The Wee Pumpkin begins with the pumpkin body, which is worked sideways and features wedges shaped with short rows. If you haven’t tried short rows before, this pattern would be great for dipping your toes into the technique. After the body is complete, a little seaming around the sides and base forms the pumpkin body. Then, stitches are picked up from around the top to create the stem. It’s finished with an adorable curlicue and leaf that are sewn to the top of the pumpkin.

Requiring just over one ball of Creative Melange, you’ll get a pumpkin that’s a bit larger than “wee.” The finished piece is about 7″ tall and 8″ in diameter. It’s the perfect size to decorate your fireplace mantel. Or, use it with other fall decorations to make a show-stopping centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table. You could even add some safety eyes and make it a precious little pumpkin to give your own little one.

Remember, you can download the Wee Pumpkin pattern for FREE at this link. And while we’re on the subject of pumpkins, allow me to recommend this smashing pie recipe to bake this Thanksgiving. While you’re waiting for the pie to bake, you can work on stitching this project! We’d love to know your favorite thing about pumpkins – let us know in the comments!

Happy stitching!
Rachel

December 9, 2022December 9, 2022

Free Pattern Friday – Poinsettia Stocking

Happy Friday to all, and to all a Free Pattern!

This week, we bring to you the Poinsettia Stockings (link here), a simple but beautiful home accent available in both knit and crochet versions! Rachel Brockman and Ashley Jane McIntyre (that’s me!) teamed up to bring you this festive duo inspired by the quintessential holiday flower, the poinsettia.

*Left to Right: Poinsettia Stockings knit and crochet versions.*

Here’s a bit of fun history that you can take along to holiday parties! The poinsettia flower is native to southern Mexico. There, it is called the Flor de la Noche Buena, meaning, Flower of the Holy Night. This name was actually given to it due to its resemblance to the renowned Star of Bethlehem. This perennial shrub can grow 10 to 15 feet tall in the wild, and flowers during the winter season. I learned this from Almanac.com, and you can read more about its various uses, popularity, and lore there. For now, let’s get back to our inspired stockings!

*Clockwise from top: Deluxe Stripes in 309 Crayon Box, 311 Tie Dye, 310 Poinsettia*

Deluxe Stripes comes in 9 different self-striping colorways which are perfect for giving simple projects an effortless bit of wow-factor. We decided to use color 310 Poinsettia as our guiding star for the design, leaning in to its classic holiday shades. This worsted weight yarn comes in 100g balls (218 yards) and is made of 75% super wash wool and 25% nylon. The bit of elasticity from the nylon was specially chosen by our design team to make this an ideal yarn for fast and cozy self-striping socks, like the Deluxe Socks. However, you can go beyond socks and make anything, like the Azelea Shawl, Art Class Cardigan, or of course, the Poinsettia Stockings.

*Deluxe Worsted Superwash in 774 Mistletoe*

Accenting the stocking as a complimentary color is our Deluxe Worsted Superwash in 738 Christmas Green, which matches a shade of green from the Deluxe Stripes used as the main color in the stocking. This yarn is made of 100% superwash wool and comes in in 100g balls (218 yards). It has a whopping 68 colors to select from, making it one of the ultimate stash staples, and is perfect for finding perfect matches to multi-colored yarns.

My favorite thing about this pattern is that you have access to either a knit version or a crochet version. It’s always so wonderful to be able to include both skills for the same piece! How many of you will try out both of them? If you know how to knit and crochet, this could be a great way to incorporate different fabric textures for a way to make your stockings stand out uniquely in addition to mixing and matching color options.

Whichever version you choose, be sure to share photos of your work on social media, and tag us in the post! Follow & tag us on Instagram at @Universal_Yarn and use the hashtag #UniversalYarn, or find and follow us on TikTok or Facebook at @UniversalYarn. We can’t wait to see all of the beautiful festive creations that our fiber friends come up with.

Happy Stitching!
Ashley Jane McIntyre

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021

Free Pattern: Easter Earl

If you follow us, you might know that we carry a fantastic line of yarn created with amigurumi projects in mind: Ricorumi DK Cotton. I’m such a fan of these cute mini-skeins that come in a vast range of colors. The Rico Design Team has created an adorable assortment of crochet patterns, kits, and books for the yarn. In fact, they’re even hosting a ridiculously cute Spring Crochet-Along right now. We’ve been sharing their patterns in our newsletter and on social media regularly. However, since we started sharing them more often, I’ve been getting emails from knitters requesting similar projects for those who don’t crochet. With those customers in mind, and with Easter well on its way, I felt some inspiration creep in.

The skeins of Ricorumi DK Cotton remind us of colorful Easter eggs!

Last week I started brainstorming with our other in-house designer, Aubrey, about ideas for Easter. A cute stuffed toy was the obvious choice. However, we already have patterns for a bunny (Coco pattern link) and a sheep (Sheldon the Sheep pattern link). What were we missing? A cute little chick! And just like that, Easter Earl (pattern link) was born!

I’m just going to say it. I love him. He was such a joy to design. I can’t get over his plump little body and all of the fun details – from the tufts of “feathers” on his head, to his bowtie, plush wings, and silly little feet. He’s a real cutie! Honestly, designing toys is so much fun. It’s a bit of a free form and play-as-you-go process, but it’s also a puzzle that requires no shortage of problem-solving. I re-knit some features several times to try and get the right shapes and proportions. Watching Earl evolve from a weird yellow snowman shape into a Spring chick was a blast. There were moments of anxiety along the way because I really wanted to make sure the finished project reflected my vision. Is it an exact match? Nope – but I couldn’t be happier with it!

I wrapped the upper corners of his eyes to create an eyelid effect. It’s one of my favorite details.

With the exception of the bowtie, each piece is knit in the round. That makes it a no-purl project, too! Some of the pieces, like the feet and the beak, are quite small so they can feel a little fiddly and tedious to knit, but it’s well worth the effort. You’ll get to indulge in a variety of techniques for this project. It involves an adjustable ring cast-on, 2-stitch I-cord, and basic increases and decreases. The body is worked in one piece. Then the wings, feet, beak, and bowtie are knit separately. During finishing, each piece is assembled together. The pattern includes written instructions for where to attach each piece, but I think the photos are even more helpful.

It only took me two days to make Easter Earl, so he makes a great last-minute gift to place in an Easter basket. He’ll certainly be finding his way into my husband’s Easter basket this year!

I hope you enjoy this free Easter treat!

October 31, 2019October 31, 2019

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween to all you ghoulies and ghosties out there! We’re not sure what’s better: a large bag filled with candy of all kinds, or a fun crafting project to get us in the holiday spirit. Sadly, we can’t provide you candy via the web, but this Halloween, we have plenty of fun crafting projects to offer! So park your broom, sit a spell, and decide which project to start working on today.

Two Halloween-themed baskets knit using Uptown Worsted filled with candy. — We want all the candy!

To hold all of that aforementioned delicious candy, we have the Neon Pumpkin and Skull Baskets in Uptown Worsted (pattern link here)! Though these baskets are knitted in soft yarn, they feature a ‘magical’ plastic needlepoint canvas inside to keep their shape for many Halloweens to come (and all those candy grabbing hands)! We know you’ll enjoy the whimsical Fair Isle patterns on these as much as we do.

Young woman with vampire fangs wearing a black cape knit in Uptown DK. — Spooky and stunning in Uptown DK

Next up, for a fun adult costume idea, we have the Batcape in Uptown DK (pattern link here). Throw this on with a black or red dress, some fangs, a little fake blood, and you have an instant Vampire costume! The chevron pattern is gorgeous to knit up, and it has a red contrast I-Cord bind off. You could always wear this with a winter outfit for an edgy-cool everyday look too. ‘Ve vant’ you to knit this pretty cape!

A crochet alien-themed children's hoodie in Cotton Supreme laying flat on a starry background. — Bleep-Bloop

Everyone loves aliens and monsters right? We certainly do. Halloween is the perfect time to work up a fun creature inspired project. For kids, we have the Bleep Bloop Sweater in Cotton Supreme (pattern link here) which is an adorable alien-themed hoodie that can double as a great costume! This is from our Stellar Supreme collection, so if you’re a fan of outer space-inspired patterns, that is the one for you.

Three brightly colored crochet monster hats in Uptown Worsted pictured laying flat on a table. — Do the Monster Mash!

For the whole family, we have Clarice, Chunk, and Clyde in Uptown Worsted! These monster hats are adorably fun to crochet and make a great last-minute costume.

Uptown Worsted Spirit Stripes yarn in color MVP — Candy corn- love or hate it?

Want a Halloween colored item, but not into the whole costume thing? Try the Crochet Color Pooling Scarf in Uptown Worsted Spirit Stripes color MVP. This yarn is also perfect for team color projects!

Cover of book 50 Knitted Gifts — ‘Boooooooooooooook’ -Winifred Sanderson

In the realm of books, we have 50 Knitted Gifts for Year Round Giving . This is a collection of patterns for every holiday on your list, and the Halloween offering sure doesn’t disappoint. Feel like making a felted trick-or-treat bag? Check. Boot Warmers? Check. This one has you covered for Halloween and all the holidays beyond.

Orange knitted boot toppers with spiderweb embroidery

Spiderweb Boot Toppers (Ravelry link here)

Knit felted Jack-o-lantern Halloween decoration

Felted Trick or Treat Bag (Ravelry link here) Hopefully, this has given you all the inspiration to start working on some whimsical and spooky projects for Halloween or any day of the year you choose to enjoy these! Now, kick back with your crafting and your candy corn and start watching Hocus Pocus. Happy Halloween!

October 10, 2018October 16, 2019

Halloween Projects – Batcape!

Halloween is almost here – but there’s still time to make yourself something spooky!

Here’s a brand new pattern – the BATCAPE in Uptown DK (pattern link here)!

(I looked for a dramatic sound effect that could be played for maximum suspense. This was the first hit, so here you go.)

The pattern is written for one size, but it can be easily scaled up or down by adding or subtracting multiples of 6 from the cast-on.

We’d also like to give credit to our model Lilly, because it was super hard to keep a straight face goofing around with this cape and wearing plastic fangs.

The chevron pattern is knit in one piece from the top down. A contrasting i-cord is added at the end.

The perfect accessory for handing out treats. Or for trick-or-treating in. We’re not going to judge.

Happy holidays!

June 12, 2018January 28, 2020

Father’s Day Tie

If you’re looking for a last-minute but thoughtful Father’s Day gift, you’re in luck. Today we’re sharing the Father’s Day Tie. This necktie takes just 36 grams of Deluxe DK Tweed Superwash!

I talk to my dad at least two or three times a week. He’s one of my best friends, and I feel so lucky for that. On top of that, my husband (and hesitant but equally gracious model for these photos) is a pretty fantastic dad to our dogs and cats. Yep – I am totally the kind of person who sees their pets as a ridiculously special part of my family.

Anyway, as we well know, Father’s Day celebrates all the great father figures out there. Yep, father figures – because it’s so important to recognize those that have played that role in our lives, regardless of a biological relationship. Whether that’s a spouse, friend, dad (or dog dad!), it’s important to take a moment to say thank you.

The Father’s Day Tie is knit flat primarily in linen stitch and features a spine of slipped stitches down the center. Paired with Deluxe DK Tweed Superwash, this accessory elevates an otherwise casual look. So what are you waiting for? Grab your needles and yarn and get started! You can find the pattern here (link).

November 13, 2017December 2, 2020

Day 1 of Winter

Over the next 12 days, we’re releasing a series of kits designed by the Universal Yarn Design Team. It’s a cozy, wintry collection of accessories that make perfect gifts–for yourself and your loved ones. To accompany the kits, we’d like to share a blog post each day. This series will highlight special aspects of each pattern and include inspiration, tips, tricks, and a few tutorials. For Day 1, we’re introducing the Blue Spruce Socks in Deluxe DK Tweed Superwash.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved evergreens and conifers. I’m not sure if it’s because of their fragrant needles and bark, or if it’s because their beautiful colors brought me joy during long and endlessly grey winters. Whatever the reason—I’ve always been drawn to them, so it’s no surprise that I designed the Blue Spruce Socks for our 12 Days of Winter collection.

These socks are warm, cozy, and a joy to knit. If you aren’t a fan of stranded colorwork, don’t fret! The Blue Spruce motif is achieved through slipped stitches. One color is carried at a time and only the stitches requiring the working yarn are knit—the rest are simply slipped purlwise. It requires twice as many rows, but the overall effect is very similar to the appearance of stranded knitting.

In addition to colorwork, the small details make this project ever so special. It features a 1×1 Twisted Rib cuff and an Eye of Partridge heel. My favorite detail is the slip-stitch stripe just before the contrasting-color toes.

You can find this kit, Day 1 of our 12 Days of Winter collection here.