Sometimes I like to search Ravelry for patterns in some way that I haven’t tried before. I search Ravelry a lot but it’s mostly for patterns for a certain weight of yarn or certain type of garment to get ideas for projects you all might like. If you put in different parameters, it’s surprising what different results you might see.
I love looking at the way people put colors together. Since I’m deep into project that I’m not 100% sure about, I needed a break. Knitting like that is not relaxing. I’m designing something not exactly from scratch (it uses a stitch pattern from one design and a shape from another) so I’m not sure if weeks of knitting is really going to yield something wearable, and that’s what it’s all about in the end, right? Anyway, I needed a break and to waste a little time, so I browsed Ravelry (oooh, I wish this stupid computer would not keep correcting that to revelry!) patterns on free and stripes-colorwork and recently-added, and just looked. It was refreshing and I found some fun patterns.
It all started with this pattern, which is not free but should be. I love how they mixed up the stripes and colors!
It’s doubled lace weight mohair, knit at a worsted gauge and if you’re any good at all at math, with the finished size and gauge you should be able to easily calculate the number of stitches to cast on. Then it’s change colors at will and knit till you run out. Simple, yet very pretty and absolutely worth doing if you want an easy project that will pay off big-time.
Then I saw this cute idea.
Five BFF’s bought gradient packs and designed their own cowls. Three (so far) have published free patterns. If you’ve tried stranded knitting, go for it with whatever is in your stash.
Here is another stranded pattern but easier-peasier:
Love the way the stranding merges the colors.
I’ve seen lots of these wonderful wraps that use up the leftover skeins from other projects in different colors of the same weight. Pashmina Stripes is an easy free version:
Other fun free and colorful patterns I found:
Drops’ Tide Rose with lots of short rows for interesting stripes:
Lemons to Limes Shawl that makes its own gradient effect:
Ein Tag am Meer (A Day at the Sea), a great summer top in a nice range of sizes:
These easy and colorful designs are so appealing at this time of year. Ravelry designers are so generous! Go find your own free colorful inspiration!
