Tag Archives: scarves

Favorite New Favorites of 2019

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Best knitting patterns of the year (Bouquet by Junko)

I’m awed every single year when I scroll back through New Favorites to see how many fantastic patterns I’ve posted here, knowing they’re still only a fraction of everything that caught my eye and made me pause in admiration for a moment (or obsess for weeks or months). As is my annual custom, I’ve rounded up my very favorite favorites below — by which I simply mean the ones I personally have the strongest urge to cast on and wear. Each pattern listed includes a link to the post in which it originally appeared, if you want to see what I had to say about it at the time and more of what was featured alongside — or you can scroll through the entirety of New Favorites at any time or just the annual Favorite New Favorites roundups! So much beauty and talent to behold.

MY HIGHEST ESTEEM
In any given year, my absolute favorite pattern is not necessarily the most creative or innovative, and I tend to skew more heavily toward wearability regardless, but in my humble opinion the best pattern of 2019 is equal parts creative/innovative and wearable, above, and that’s Junko Okamoto’s Bouquet Sweater (from Junko’s abstract Bouquet). Her use of RS and WS floats in creating a variety of “bouquets” of flowers that are then asymmetrically scattered across the garment … it’s amazing in the concept and execution, and I have seen several really beautiful examples walking around in the world. I hope in 2020 I may have the courage to make it my colorwork project for the year. (Since I seem to pretty reliably do one per year.)

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Best knitting patterns of the year (sweaters)

SWEATERS
top: Column by Hiromi Nagasawa (from Simple pleasures)
row two, left: Tarn by Claire Walls (from Textured yokes)
row two, right: Eva by Julie Weisenberger (from Eva)
middle: Streaks by Keiko Kikuno (from Amirisu 19, all of it)
bottom, left: Escala by Alice Caetano (from Amirisu 19, all of it)
bottom, right: ふっくらケーブル模様のセーター by Yokota/Daruma (from Bulky beauties)

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Best knitting patterns of the year (scarves)

SCARVES and COWL
top: Dyyni by Sari Nordlund (from The ones I’ve been waiting for)
middle left: Isadora by Berroco (from Fall warm-ups)
middle right: No-Cable Cable Scarf by Purl Soho (from Cables for the Cable-averse)
bottom: Lierne Cowl by Bristol Ivy (from Amirisu 19, all of it)

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Best knitting patterns of the year (hats)

HATS
top: The Dawn Hat by Brandi Harper (from Holiday hat knitting cheat sheet: 10 skill-stretching patterns)
middle left: Oleander Reversible Hat by Laura Chau (from Texture, please!)
middle right: Hatdana by Denise Bayron (from Head kercheifs)
bottom: Hjarn Hat by Amber Platzer Corcoran (from Stranded purl hats)

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Best knitting patterns of the year (socks)

SOCKS
top: Open Heart by Ainur Berkimbayeva (from Serious sock temptations)
bottom left: Chunky Slipper Socks by Churchmouse (from Simple pleasures)
bottom right: Thaba by Dawn Henderson (from Serious sock temptations)

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I should note that my New Favorites picks aren’t always published within the year, and some of these may not have been 2019, but I’d love to hear what your favorites of the year have been!

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: “Cables” for the cable-averse

New Favorites: “Cables” for the cable averse

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New Favorites: "Cable" knitting patterns for the cable averse

Now me, I love cables and I love a chart. I’m a visual person and I also think cable knitting is a blast, so my idea of a dream pattern is a simple cable chart I can glance at and memorize, then settle in with my yarn and needles and cable away to my heart’s content, barely if ever consulting the pattern. That means my least favorite thing is a written pattern full of row after row of instructions to which I have to pay close attention and try to keep my place. HOWEVER, I know (and respect!) that the opposite is true for some of you — those who like a pattern written, not charted, and the fewer cables the better. But who doesn’t love the look of them, right? So this one is for the cable- and chart-averse: Two written patterns — both of them free, no less — for cable-looking designs without a single cable cross anywhere in the text.

TOP: No-Cable Cable Scarf by Purl Soho offers the look of diamond cables with none of the cabling

BOTTOM: Neighborhood Holiday Hat by Amber Platzer Corcoran likewise uses only increases and decreases but gives the look of sinuous traveling cables

UNRELATED SALE NEWS: Today is my birthday and I’m giving you a one-day discount! Everything under Tools & Supplies at fringesupplyco.com — needles and sets, pouches, OUR Yarn, scissors, balm and more — is 15% off today when you use the code TOOLTIME at checkout.
(Good only on orders placed December 17, 2019 CST, for in-stock items. Not retroactive, not redeemable for cash.)

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Texture, please!

New Favorites: Fall warm-ups

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New Favorites: Fall warm-ups

Are you already (like me) imagining that moment when summer starts to let up and you can drape something woolly around your shoulders again? The precursor to actually being able to slide your arms into a real sweater? These two beauties would make for fun summer knitting and will fill that in-between gap as well as layering beautifully over sweaters and coats when the times comes—

TOP: Moon Sisters by Caitlin Hunter is a clever application of Anna Maltz’s Marlisle technique — a two-strand marl shawl with a strip of colorwork triangles running down the spine

BOTTOM: Isadora by Berroco is a sea of chunky scallop shapes formed (I believe) by nothing more than increases and decreases in chunky wool

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BY THE WAY: We’ve been having a Warehouse Sale over at Fringe Supply Co. this weekend to clear out some “seconds.” We’re down to just the last few items we had the most of, but there are some killer deals to be had. Ends tonight!

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Mesmerizing colorwork

New Favorites: Mega wraps

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New Favorites: Mega wraps (knitting patterns)

In addition to my shawl-collar vest idea and the navy pullover I still haven’t quite sorted out, the other thing I’ve had in mind to possibly knit for myself this year — making alternative use of a sweater quantity of wool in my stash — is a textured wrap. I’ve still never knitted a scarf, but have always wanted to knit a big blankety wrap of one sort or another. Some contenders:

TOP: Holmes Wrap by Michele Wang, pure cabley goodness

MIDDLE LEFT: Ridgeline Baby Blanket by Purl Soho, with just a slight tweak to the proportions (free pattern)

MIDDLE RIGHT: Castlemilk by Cecelia Campochiaro, sequence knitting which could be easily scaled wider

BOTTOM: Heure d’Hiver by Emilie Luis, I’d leave off the fringe and elongate the ribbing

BELOW: En Voyage by Espace Tricot, just shortened a bit

New Favorites: Mega wraps

Plus there’s still Julie Hoover’s Wallace from last year’s Favorite New Favorites, which is probably in the lead. But I’m also recalling how much I loved knitting the stitch pattern of my Channel Cardigan, and thinking that could make a lovely wrap as well.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Simple pleasures

New Favorites: Junko’s abstract Bouquet

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New Favorites: Junko's abstract Bouquet

I’m jumping the gun on this one because I literally cannot wait until the pattern publishes on Friday — it’s Junko Okamoto’s latest flash of brilliance, the Bouquet Sweater and scarf (not sure if the latter will be a separate pattern, but I assume). We’ve talked before about my love of The Twigs, and I’m equally smitten with her floral doodle on Papa, but this one is next level. Bouquet features a large-scale flower motif that reminds me of a sort of Weiner Werkstätte way of doing a floral — graphic and abstracted. But it’s also not a standard stranded motif and not embroidered after the fact. I’m eager to see when the pattern drops, but it’s either an incredibly clever use of right-side and wrong-side floats, or a wrapping technique similar to that in L’Arbre Hat? Like I said, I can’t wait to see the pattern and find out.

She’s knitted the sample sweater in a marl and a fairly low-contrast color, downplaying the effect — then flipped the two yarns for the scarf. For a higher-contrast version, just look at this gorgeousness.

And I just realized there’s been an unintended theme to New Favorites so far this year — bouclé cables, mohair colorwork, stranded purls and now this. So much lovely surface texture happening.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Stranded purl hats

Favorite New Favorites of 2018

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Favorite New Favorites of 2018 - best knitting patterns

Of all the years, this is one where I feel most dramatically like WAIT! I haven’t even knitted anything from last year’s Favorite New Favorites yet! I’ve gone back to the patterns on that list over and over this year, and several I’ve continued to go on about during 2018, and yet somehow it’s already time to look back through this year’s and pull out the ones I most fervently want to not lose track of.

It was a really good year in knitting patterns, better than I even realized. To scroll back through the year’s New Favorites (which I recommend!) is to witness a lot of ingenuity and beauty, and yet there are loads of things I saved on Ravelry that haven’t even made it onto the blog. (Yet.) Trying to narrow it to the ones I simply admired the most, I was at risk of putting about 40 or 50 patterns into this post. So I decided to limit myself to just 12 patterns for the year: the ones I’d most like to actually knit and have. Which also means this could function as a queue for the coming year — if only people would stop with the new distractions!

BUT FIRST:

Simply based on how many times I’ve typed the words Carbeth Cardigan this year — and the fact that I did cast one on during my flight to Palm Springs last week — it’s clearly the pattern that bored the deepest hole into my brain this year. And then there are the ones I actually made: Grete and Hozkwoz.

And now the dozen …

Best sweater knitting patterns

SWEATERS
top: High Neck Pulloverby Tomoko Noguchi (as seen in Turtleneck season) 
middle left: Ridgeline Wrap Cardigan by Purl Soho (as seen in Those collars)
middle right: Breakwater Beach Vest by Irina Anikeeva (as seen in Way back to school sweaters)
bottom: Moosonee Sweater by Tara-Lynn Morrison (as seen in Wearable superbulky)

Best wraps knitting patterns

WRAPS
top: Ellsworth by Scott Rohr (as seen in Clever garter colorwork)
bottom left: Two-Point Cowl by Churchmouse (as seen in Two-point cowl)
bottom right: Wallace by Julie Hoover (as seen in Under wraps)

Best fingerless mitts patterns

MITTS
top: New Year’s Mitts by Veronika Jobe (as seen in Colorwork mitts)
bottom left: Weekend Walking Mitts by Dianna Walla (as seen in Quick Knits: Fingerless mitts)
bottom right: Tredje by Irina Anikeeva (as seen in Textured mitts)

Best hat knitting patterns

HATS
top: Tamitik by Shannon Cook (as seen in Quick Knits: Hats)
bottom: Adam by Rachel Atkinson (as seen in Quick Knits: Hats)

What were your favorite patterns this year — the ones you don’t want to let get away from you—

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Sock season

Queue Check — November 2018

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Queue Check — November 2018

I did that thing where I convinced myself I was going to come home from my Thanksgiving road trip with nearly finished front and back pieces for Bob’s sweater vest. (Details on the pattern and yarn here.) Instead, of course, I knitted about two inches on the drive to Atlanta, an inch on the drive back, and not a stitch while we were with my family. Too many meals to prepare, kids to fling around, dominoes games to lose. But I have, at least, done my alt-gauge math and made it into the armhole shaping on both pieces, so it’s downhill from here!

Which means it’s about time to decide what I’m casting on for myself when this is done. As you know, I’ve been deliberating. And deliberating some more. Based on the notes in my mood board post last week and an assessment of my stash — as I continue to make slow but steady progress on my cleanout — I’ve got three yarns vying for my attention.

LEFT SKEIN: While I was at Tolt a few weeks ago, I bought a skein of black Luft to swatch with for another Grete, and when I got home a box arrived from my sweet friends at Woolfolk with enough to finish the job. This one is pretty much a sure thing, so very likely the next project on my needles. All there is to think about is the mods I want to make this time, beyond what I did with my first one.

MIDDLE SKEIN: The Our Yarn I’ve been saying I want to use for a Carbeth Cardigan, amplified by my trying on Shannon’s on that same trip. Shannon’s was knitted in the soft black Quarry and it really felt like a sweater that belonged in my closet, so as confident I am that I would absolutely love it in the toffee, I’m questioning whether I’ll regret not making a replica of the sweater that felt so entirely perfect to me. Especially since I also have other ideas for the toffee.

RIGHT SKEIN: The other sweater quantity in my stash that’s crying out the loudest is the YOTH Neighbor I bought at Stitches West back in February. I really love this nubbly, heathery wool and am dying to knit it up, but I’m also being mindful about my quest for less warm sweaters, which led me back to Kram, which has been on my shortlist for three years. I’m leery of these kinds of sweaters (basically triangular garments meant to sit on a square frame), so I still regret not trying on Tank’s when I had a chance at Knitting With Company two years ago, but it looked great on her and the fact that I’ve had it in mind for so long is a good sign. I’d probably need to hold this yarn triple, and believe I have just enough to pull that off, but I’m also considering holding an ivory or lighter blue with it to brighten up the color, since this is a pretty grey blue.

And then there’s the sewing queue. Writing about my wool muscle tee the other day made me think I might want to make another with the toffee-colored wool I have in stash, which was actually woven from the same yarn above. And fueled by the winter mood board, I pulled this purple fabric off my shelf. It’s a gorgeous deep eggplant with patterning in a lighter shade of lilac, woven in Thailand. I bought it a few years ago at Craft South when they had a pop-up with a woman who buys indigenous textiles on her global travels. (I can’t remember her name or brand!) I’ve been waiting for it to tell me what it wants to be, and I’m now thinking a pretty little sleeveless top of some sort. This fabric will go with every cardigan I own (including the to-be-steeked purple lopi) as well as my army and denim shirtjackets, and a little sleeveless top is of course useful year-round. I don’t know what exactly, but I’m picturing something feminine, with maybe a little gathering or pleating at the waist? If I can find the right pattern, I might have the time next weekend, and it would be my idea of a perfect little #sewfrosting project, just in time for the holidays.

(Fringe Town Bag and Lykke needles from Fringe Supply Co.)

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PREVIOUSLY in Queue Check: October 2018