Free knitting patterns

 
Materials:
a few oddments of yarn in cream, chocolate, pink and red
I use 4ply cotton yarn with 2.25mm needles (size 1 US, UK/Canada 13)
seed beads / sequins / decorations

Pattern:

Cast on 15 stitches with the cream colour for the cake case
Row 1:   (K1, P1) 7 times, K1
Row 2:   (P1, K1,) 7 times, P1
Row 3:   as row 1
Row 4:   as row 2
Row 5:   as row 1
Row 6:   as row 2
Row 7:   as row 1
Row 8:   as row 2
Row 9:   K1, (P1, wrap yarn once around needle* K1) 7 times      * to make a stitch
Row 10: (P1, Knit into the front of made stitch, K1) 7 times, P1
Row 11: (K1, P2) 7 times, K1
Row 12: cast off, keeping ribbing correct

Row 13: With chocolate cake coloured yarn pick up and knit 15 stitches from the back of the finished case (around 1 row down from the cast off edge) taking 1 alternately from the purl rib and 1 from the knit rib.
Row 14: purl a further row in cake colour
Row 15: change yarn to pink colour for the icing and knit 1 row
Row 16: knit a row
Row 17: purl a row
Row 18: knit a row
Row 19: P2tog, P 11, P2tog through the back
Row 20: K2tog through the back, K9, K2tog
Row 21: P2tog, P 7, P2tog through the back
Row 22: K2tog through the back, K5, K2tog
Row 23: P2tog, P 3, P2tog through the back
Row 24: cast off remaining stitches

Cherry on the top:
Cast on 4 in red yarn
knit 1 row
(P2tog) twice, pass 1st stitch over the second and pull end through to secure.

alternatively you could use a fabric flower instead of the cherry or cut a small circle of red felt.

To Finish:
Sew cherry on to top. Sew in ends neatly on reverse. Sew on beads / sequins and attach to T-shirt / tea cosy / greeting card etc...

Copyright © Julie Williams 2006.

Can be used singley as a decoration on clothing and accessories or grouped to make a posy and sewn onto a hairband or hairslide. Knitting it in green will give you a shamrock / lucky clover. I’m sure there are lots of other uses too.

Materials: Using 2.25mm (USA size 1, UK/Canadian size 13) needles and 4 ply yarn

Pattern:

cast on 5 stitches
row 1: **slip 1, knit 3. turn leaving remaining stitch unworked
row 2: purl 3, turn leaving remaining stitch unworked
row 3: knit 3, turn leaving remaining stitch unworked
row 4: purl 3, turn leaving remaining stitch unworked
row 5: knit 4
row 6: purl 2 together, purl 1, purl 2 together (3 stitches)
row 7: knit 1, knit 2 together and pass first stitch over to give 1 stitch on needle
Use this stitch to cast on 4 more stitches (5 in total) and repeat from ** to give desired number of petals (3, 4 or 5)

If you'd like a larger flower then simply cast on 7 stitches and follow the same principle of working only on the centre 5 stitches for the first 6 rows and then decreasing by knitting 2 stitches together at both ends of the following rows until you have a single stitch again. Repeat for the desired number of petals.

To finish:
thread end through last remaining stitch and then gather up the middle of the flower by catching up  2 stitches the from base of each ‘petal’, pulling up tight and tying off the ends.

Attach to article and sew a contrasting french knot / button / felt circle in the centre of flower.

Working on the middle stitches only gives the ‘petal’ a natural curl. Once the flower is finished you can choose to curl petals up or down.

Copyright © Julie Williams 2006.

UPDATE: November 2015.

There is a brand new PDF file for this pattern that you can download for free here. Stocking Pattern Link: download now.

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I knit this stocking flat because I don't enjoy knitting in the round and prefer working fair Isle and intarsia designs this way.

I tend to work it on double pointed needles because during heel shaping you need to switch from working one side to the other. You can knit it on regular needles but slide the work across onto a second needle at appropriate time. Apart from the stocking top it is worked in stocking stitch (knit on right side and purl on reverse)

Materials:
oddments of yarn. I prefer to knit these on 2.75 mm needles with pure cotton 4ply but the pattern will knit up with whatever you prefer. Note, obviously the larger the needle size and thicker the yarn, the larger the finished stocking. Before you start, decide which colour you are going to knit the heel in and cut a length at least 110cm (44”) keep to one side for second heel shaping*.

PATTERN:

Cast on 25 sts, **(27 if knitting one of the stranded designs charted below)
rows 1 - 3: knit
row 4: (right side) begin pattern from charts below (if required)
work a total of 14 rows of pattern ending with a wrong side row.
**if working in one of the stranded / fairisle designs: on last wrong side row of pattern chart decrease 1 stitch at either end to give 25 stitches

Start at the bottom of the chart for the pattern charts

Heel shaping:
I like to use different coloured yarn to accentuate heel. The heel is worked in 2 halves.
row 18: with right side facing, k7 and turn leaving remaining stitches on needle
row 19: slip 1, p6
repeat these 2 rows 3 more times until 8 rows of heel have been worked
row 26: k3, k2tog through the back, k1, turn leaving 1 remaining stich of heel on needle (see photo step 1)

row 27: slip 1, p4
row 28: k2, k2tog through the back, turn leaving remaining 2 stiches on needle
row 29: slip 1, p2
row 30: k2, k2tog through the back, k1, turn
row 31: slip 1, p3
leaving these 4 stitches on needle with the main part of the stocking, slide all the work along needle, turn with wrong side facing and resume working the other side of the heel (see photo step 2).

reverse row 18: with wrong side facing and using 110cm length of yarn cut earlier*, p7 and turn leaving remaining stitches on needle
reverse row 19: slip 1, k6
repeat these 2 rows 3 more times until 8 rows of heel have been worked
reverse row 26: p3, p2tog, p1, turn leaving 1 remaining stich of heel on needle
reverse row 27: slip 1, k4
reverse row 28: p2, p2tog, turn leaving remaining 2 stiches on needle
reverse row 29: slip 1, k2
reverse row 30: p2, p2tog, p1, turn
reverse row 31: slip 1, k3

row 32: with right side facing rejoin main colour and begin knitting across first 4 stitches of heel shaping, pick up 5 stitches from inside edge of heel (see photo step 3), knit 11 stitches across main part of stocking, pick up 5 stitches from inside edge of 2nd heel half and knit final 4 stitches (29 stitches on needle) (see photo step 4)

row 33: purl
row 34: K8, k2tog, k9, k2tog through the back, k8
row 35: p7, p2tog through the back, p9, p2tog, p7
row 36: K6, k2tog, k9, k2tog through the back, k6 (23 stitches)
row 37: purl
work a further 8 rows of stocking stitch (knit on right side, purl on reverse)
row 46: with right side facing change colour for toe cap (see photo step 5) and work 2 rows

row 48: K3, K2tog through the back, k4, k2tog, k1, k2tog through the back, k4, k2tog, k3
row 49: purl
row 50: K3, K2tog through the back, k2, k2tog, k1, k2tog through the back, k2, k2tog, k3 (15 stitches) (see photo step 6)

row 51: purl

Making Up:

Cut work from the ball leaving a long end for sewing up. Thread end through 15 stitches on needle (see photo step 7) and pull up tight.

Join seam running up bottom and back of stocking using mattress stitch (see photo step 8).

Turn inside out and tie up all ends securely and trim - no need to sew them in. Turn right side out.

Hanging loop: cast on 35 stitches and then cast them off. Double strip over to make a loop and sew to back of stocking. Secure with a cute button.

Copyright © Julie Williams 2005.

There are lots of ideas for adapting the design of this pattern (for instance adding numbers to make an advent calendar) over on ravelry: