Over the weekend I had a full schedule, teaching classes at Fibre Space in Alexandria. One of the things I love about teaching classes is how it puts me in touch with my customer base: both for teaching and for designing. I also love all the great questions that students shoot my way! On Sunday I got to teach a class I haven’t taught in a while: Picking Up Stitches.
It’s a great class for showing students how many different ways there are to approach the same thing. I love “peeling back the curtain” and showing students where designers get their numbers; and how they can “tweak” their own knitting.
Valley Log Cabin blanket by Dena Childs
As the class was ending, several of the students asked if there were patterns I’d recommend to practice picking up stitches, and I couldn’t resist putting together a Ravelry Bundle of some of my favorite patterns featuring picking up stitches that I’ve come across over the years. You can see the entire bundle here, but I thought I’d share some of my highlights.
One of the first Patterns that came to mind was a Log Cabin blanket. I’ve got one I work on in my (nonexistent) spare time out of sock yarn scraps.
There’s hundreds of variants of the log Cabin motif. Essentially, you work your way from the center out, most often in garter stitch. I’ve rapidly become a fan of Web’s Valley Yarns, and I love the color palette they offer.
I like this particular pattern for it’s simplicity: no need to mess up a good thing!
Albers Cowl by Ann Weaver
The Albers Cowl by Ann Weaver is a rather crafty variant of the log cabin concept. This cowl features a center motif that’s slightly off-of-center, and I love the more modern feel it gives the piece.
Fibre Space carries the pattern, and both Sweet Georgia yarns and Neighborhood Fiber Company are great options to make this pattern shine.
Jewel Dragon by Svetlana Gordon
The Aranami Shawl by Olga Buraya-Kefelian is a simply stunning example of what can be done with picked up stitches. I love
the way the colors create optical illusions with the knitting. While done in a similar manner to entrelac, the effect is quite a bit more flowing than basket-weave.
If you like a slightly more robust challenge, Jewel Dragon by Svetlana Gordon takes a similar construction concept and turns it on its head. I think the color choices really make this project, and several Ravelers have used rainbow yarns to great effect!
Personally, I’d love to use a long, color changing gradient, so you could see the colors shift from scale to scale.
Karner Butterfly by Jennifer Raymond
My own Pattern, Karner Butterfly Socks features picked up stitches, too.
Made by working the leg of the sock first, the top cuff and the bottom sock are both worked afterwards by picking up stitches. I love the color play in this pattern: so many of the ones I picked out to feature have similar color play, vying between two or more colors.
Do you have any favorite patterns that feature picking up stitches? What are they? Don’t forget to take a look at my entire bundle on Ravelry here!
