Tee – Universal Yarn Creative Network

July 5, 2024July 3, 2024

Free Pattern Friday – Spark Tee

Happy Free Pattern Friday! I hope you are enjoying the beautiful summer sun on this holiday week. This Friday, we are releasing a brand new pattern knit using one of our most Pop-ular yarns.

The Spark Tee was designed by Afifa Sayeed using Bamboo Pop Sock in one of the newest colors we released last year. Bamboo Pop Sock is a sock-weight yarn comprised of bamboo, cotton, and PBT; the perfect fiber blend for hot days.

The Spark Tee is the perfect essential for a casual day out. An open mesh-style stitch pattern is worked on the main body, giving this tee a stretchy, breezy feel. The mesh pattern is easy to memorize, making this tee a great choice for knitters of all skill levels.

You’ll knit the Spark Tee flat in pieces, starting with the Front. Although seaming knits may not seem like the most fun part of a project, they add structure and integrity to the final piece, which is great for elastic yarns like Bamboo Pop Sock.

After seaming, stitches are picked up around the armholes as well as the neckband to create the ribbed edging. The ribbing offers a nice textural contrast to the mesh pattern.

Designer Afifa Sayeed chose color 702 Ecstatic for the Spark Tee. I love how playful and sunny this shade looks. Bamboo Pop Sock has a unique self-shading print throughout, so any color you choose will result in an exciting finished piece. If I made the Spark Tee, I would choose color 706 Serentiy; pink and purple are my favorite colors!

Don’t forget to shop our sitewide July 4th sale this weekend only!

Happy crafting,

Aubrey

August 11, 2023August 10, 2023

Free Pattern Friday – Aubrey’s Summer Set

The dog days of summer may be upon us, but we have a brand new project that will easily get you through the remainder of the season with a smile! Aubrey’s Summer Set, designed by Afifa Sayeed, is now available for free download on our website. Using Lazy Hazy Summer Cotton from Rico Design, you’re going to love knitting this colorful and cute set.

Aubrey’s Summer Set includes a top written for sizes Extra Small through 5X, and a matching hat written for One Size that will fit most adults. These pieces are knit in the round, with the tee worked bottom up and the hat worked from the top down. The sugary hues of Lazy Hazy Summer Cotton bring joy to every stitch, leading to a final set you’ll wear summer after summer!

One glimpse at Lazy Hazy Summer Cotton, and we know you’ll be planning your next project! With its blend of 46% acrylic, 49% cotton, and 5% polyester, this yarn is perfect for summertime t-shirts, shawls, and more! Lazy Hazy Summer Cotton is a DK weight yarn that is 2-ply, and the beautiful hues in each skein bring joy to every project you decide to use it for!

In case you didn’t know, we have plenty of exciting patterns from Rico Design that feature Lazy Hazy Summer Cotton. Click your favorite one below to learn more!

We hope you indulge in this weekend’s offer and you add Aubrey’s Summer Set to your queue. In the meantime, stay cool, and we’ll see you next week with another free surprise!

Thanks for stopping by!
Robert

July 21, 2023July 20, 2023

Free Pattern Friday – Wildflower Tee

If you’re looking for a delightful knit, we have some good news for you this Free Pattern Friday! The Wildflower Tee, designed by Rachel Brockman, is now available to download on our website. This stunning, floral-inspired t-shirt is the perfect knitting project for the season. Let’s learn why you need to add this beauty to your queue!

There’s no better way to beat the heat than with Cotton Supreme Speckles, consisting of 100% cotton fibers. Each hank is packed with exciting hues, ready to burst off of your finished garments and accessories. Reverse stockinette stitch gives this tee a touch of texture and a smooth look and feel. The edges of this tee are made of ribbing, and the top is detailed with a thoughtful, folded neckband for a finished look.

The sample shown uses the color 1004 Pastel Pop, but our Cotton Supreme Speckles yarn has six total colorways to choose from. The pattern includes sizing for XS through 5X with adjusted yarn recommendations for each size. Shop your favorite color of Speckles and get started on your newest tee today!

If you are a fan of Cotton Supreme, then Cotton Supreme Speckles is for you! It’s the same worsted-weight, 100% cotton base with speckled hues throughout each hank. This yarn is perfect for a plethora of projects like baby garments and accessories, t-shirts, blankets, and more. Shop today and save 20% off Speckles through Sunday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Robert

July 7, 2023July 6, 2023

Free Pattern Friday – Split Back Tee

Fridays are often filled with fun and excitement, and we know the main reason why: Free Pattern Friday! Today’s free pattern is the Split Back Tee in our Filly yarn.

The Split Back Tee in Filly color 102 Kite

Designed by Rachel Brockman, the Split Back Tee is cool and cute, perfect for summer days. With an all over textured pattern, this top is a great choice for knitters of all skill levels. I’m a big fan of knitting patterns that are relaxing and easy to work on while you watch television or spend time with friends. This tee is exactly that. Once you’ve memorized the stitch pattern, everything else is smooth sailing!

The split back design is perfect for showing off a fun layering piece underneath, and gives the overall piece a modern silhouette. Don’t fret about the construction, it is easier than you think! You’ll start by knitting the individual front and two back pieces, then after seaming the shoulders, you’ll overlap the back pieces per the pattern instructions, and finish up by creating the sleeves and neck band! This tee would be a wonderful pattern choice for someone who is working on getting comfortable with different types of construction elements in knit garments.

Our Filly yarn is a unique blend of 46% cotton, 33% superwash merino, 12% polyamide, and 9% pbt. Although this is a yarn that was designed with socks in mind, the fiber content makes it an excellent choice for garments and accessories too!

Self-shading yarns like Filly are perfect for simple silhouettes and stitch patterns. The yarn does the colorwork for you, so you can focus on the knitting! Wear the Split Back Tee on your next vacation, or just out to lunch with your fiber friends.

Which color of Filly would you use to make the Split Back Tee? I think I’d choose 101 Bloom.

Don’t forget to share your projects with us on social media! Use our hashtag #universalyarn on Instagram so that we can see and share your work!

Happy Crafting,

Aubrey

December 2, 2022December 1, 2022

Free Pattern Friday – Spearmint Tee

It is Friday and you know what that means – Free Pattern Friday from Universal Yarn!

Today, the Spearmint Tee (pattern link), designed by our outstanding managing director, Yonca Ozbelli. Let’s hear about it in her own words!

A woman wearing pink glasses stands in front of greenery and is wearing a striped top, handknitted using Universal Yarn Truva. — The Spearmint Tee, modeled by our designer and social media extraordinaire, Aubrey.

“This week’s free pattern is inspired by the calm waters of the Aegean Sea, located between Greece and Turkey. The yarn I used was also named after the same region – Truva, which means Troy in Turkish.

We all fell in love with Truva when we saw it at the Italian mill, how can you not? It is 50% cashmere and 50% cotton, the best of two worlds combined to create this heathered, almost rustic-looking yarn. It is soft, squishy, and luxurious. At the same time, it is strong, beautiful, and will defy time, just like the region it was named after.

A detailed back view of a woman wearing pink glasses, also wearing a striped top, handknitted using Universal Yarn Truva. — The heathered, gently marled colors of Truva add dimensionality to the fabric it creates.

Just like many of us, I wanted to create a top-down, easy-to-knit top. To me, that means watching your favorite TV show while knitting. I also wanted it to be a bit more than just a plain top-down garment, so I decided to use two colors and add stripes to my project. This part was easy, the hard part was the decision about the colors! There were many options to choose from, and below are a few of the combinations I considered.

Looking for inspiration? Here are some of Yonca’s favorite color combinations in Truva!

In the end, I decided to use 103 Chambray & 105 Aegean because they reminded me of the greenest hills that overlook the crystal-clear waters of the Aegean Sea.

After settling on the colors, the rest was easy, and I loved the way my project came to life! 😊 I intentionally kept the sleeves short, as I wear a lot of short sleeve sweaters; but you, my fellow knitter, can do whatever you prefer! Long, short, or three-quarter-length sleeves…this is the beautiful part of knitting, you can modify any project to your liking!

A back view of a woman wearing pink glasses, standing in front of greenery and wearing a striped top, handknitted using Universal Yarn Truva. — Cute, relaxed, and simple to style!

I hope you will give this top-down garment a try! It is almost all seasons appropriate, regardless of where you live. I know I will enjoy wearing it all the time – but maybe not in August when it is hot and humid in the Carolinas!”

A woman with pink glasses stands in front of greenery wearing a top handknitted using Universal Yarn Truva. She is also wearing a navy blue jacket. — Wear your Spearmint Tee year-round by layering it up with a jacket during the cooler months!

We hope you enjoy this wonderful pattern. Until next time, happy crafting!
-Yonca

April 20, 2022April 20, 2022

Tiny Textures: Knit Projects For Littles Ones

This week we released our newest collection, Tiny Textures, which is truly the cutest little gathering of knitwear items I’ve seen all spring! There are five easy projects to knit up and give to a baby or toddler in your life – whether for your own munchkins, or as a gift for others in your life, each design is sure to be a cherished keepsake for years to come.

All of the projects are made with our Uptown Worsted Hues yarn. It’s the newest addition to the Uptown line of yarns, featuring beautifully blended pastel colors that look great in any piece! From baby items, to adult garments, accessories, and homewares, this yarn is a wonderful way to bring a burst of color into the mix. Uptown Worsted Hues anti-pilling, 100% acrylic composition and Standard 100 certification by Oeko-Tex made this yarn an easy choice for a kids collection though. It can handle the rough-and-tumble nature of kiddos well, as it is fully machine washable and easy to care for.

One of my favorite pieces to come out of this collection is the Peyton cardigan. It has such a playful take on a sophisticated “grown up cardigan” by featuring squiggly lines, made of cable cross stitches, where one may expect to see more typical cables. Plus there’s room for more unexpected fun by incorporating buttons! You may choose to go with a clean look by using cohesive, round wooden buttons from Katrinkles, like we did. Or you could get quirky by browsing some of her more eccentric options, or by sourcing some from wherever you’d like! No matter where they are from, buttons are always a great way to make a piece feel truly unique and special.

The other teeny temptation creeping onto my make-list is the Elouise set. The hat and cowl have sweet little details that make them look quite polished for being so small. The hat features a little cinched gathering at the brim that hints at old-glam style, while the cowl sports a button closure, leaving room for more of that individual refinement we talked about above. The slip stitch pattern worked on both the hat and cowl has just the right amount of texture to give this set a certain je ne sais quoi that would simply lack if it were done in a smooth stockinette. Wouldn’t you agree?

Be sure to check out all 5 of the tiny textured pieces, and start plotting which ones you’ll make today! Which one do you think you’ll make first?
That’s all for now, Happy Stitching y’all,
Ashley Jane

July 23, 2021July 26, 2021

Free Pattern Friday – Holiday Jay

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Today, Holiday Jay in Cotton True Sport (pattern link here).

Have you ever had a favorite sweater that you loved, and were sorry to put away when the weather warmed up? That’s the origin of today’s beauty, the Holiday Jay.

Our Managing Director Yonca Ozbelli was in love with the Jay Sweater, designed by Rachel Brockman in Kingston Tweed.

Shown in Kingston Tweed 110 Beryl (MC) and 102 Calcite (CC).

Yonca’s not alone – this sweater’s gotten a lot of love from the knitting community. We were so taken with it that we had to make more than one .

Shown in Kingston Tweed 101 Talc (MC) and 108 Amethyst (CC).

When temperatures started to climb here in North Carolina, Yonca decided to adapt the pattern in one of our favorite summertime yarns, Cotton True Sport.

She opted to call this short-sleeved version the Holiday Jay, because the colors and Fair Isle yoke feel very wintry. We love it when Yonca wears her “Christmas in July” sweater – it’s inspirational to see all the ways we can make a pattern just right for our own tastes and circumstances!

Shown in Cotton True Sport 102 Bright Red (MC) and 117 Bright White (CC)

Like the original Jay sweater, Holiday Jay is sized from XS through 5X. Yonca’s chosen red and white combo is delightful, although this would look equally striking in many other bright/dark contrasting combos. Maybe 112 Boysenberry and 118 Marshmallow, to make a bubbly cobbler a la mode version?

…and just like that, I’ve talked myself into another project. Can’t wait to cast on!

Have a great weekend, and stay cool.

Happy crafting!

July 3, 2020July 3, 2020

Free Pattern Friday – Little Patriot

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Little girl wearing knit striped top with applique stars in Bamboo Pop

Today, Little Patriot in Bamboo Pop (pattern here). Here in America, tomorrow is the 4th of July! Well, technically it’s the 4th of July in many countries, but here it’s significant because that’s when we celebrate our Independence Day!

Dog wearing red, white, and blue Independence Day clothes — USA! USA! USA!

In honor of the holiday, we’re making the formerly pay-only Little Patriot pattern in Bamboo Pop free!

This cute summertime tee is sized from 1-12 years. Work it flat, seam it up, then add the star appliques. Voila! Warm-weather adorableness!
We hope you have a socially distant, safe, and happy Independence Day! Happy crafting!

Cat dressed in American flag hat and bandana — Are you quite done?

May 24, 2019July 31, 2019

Free Pattern Friday – Ravine

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Today, Ravine in Fibra Natura Lina (pattern link here). We’re very aware that some parts of the continent are still blessed with cold weather. But here in North Carolina, we’re moving into the holiday weekend with what meteorologists are calling a “death ridge.”

Are we going to let that stop us from knitting? Heck no! We just have to adjust our projects, that’s all.

Step one: prepare for the heat. Toss some grapes in the freezer before you hit your LYS. Also, be sure your ice cube trays are full. You’ll be glad you did later.

Step two: choose a short-sleeved, breezy project. Ravine fits the bill. Cool and comfy, this classic wide-necked tee is perfect for summer.

Step three: pick a heat-friendly yarn. Lina is a linen/cotton blend that’s perfect for summer, and it’s going to feel great in a top like Ravine. Other possibilities: Cotton True Sport or Little Bird.

Step four: Cast on and chill out. The grapes are a fitting snack for this, because your hands won’t get grimy and you can keep knitting as you nosh. The ice cubes? If you’ve got a blender, try Kool-Aid slushies – super cheap and refreshing.