In Aurora Borealis Mittens, designer Shannon Okey celebrates the textile traditions of northern climes by remixing visual patterns collated in the renowned Íslensk sjónabók. The sjónabók, a collaboration among many Icelandic museums, features 700+ pages of imagery drawn from textile and other decorative object collections all over Iceland.

The socks featured in Colorplay Socks were designed to demonstrate the effect of stitch pattern on hand-dyed yarns. From stockinette to rib, cables and lace, you’ll see what a difference a pattern stitch can make! These socks are simple and suitable for beginners. More advanced sock knitters can alter to fit their personal preferences.

Why not release a pattern a week for a year, and run a Patreon to help fund it? This was the original concept behind designer Shannon Okey’s #knitgrrl52 knit publishing project.

Why not release a pattern a week for a year, and run a Patreon to help fund it? This was the original concept behind designer Shannon Okey’s #knitgrrl52 knit publishing project.

Cherry pie optional. Featuring 14 cowl patterns plus a bonus sweater pattern for adventurous knitters who like to experiment, The Cowls Are Not What They Seem is what happens when a lifelong Twin Peaks fan and knit designer decides to design a Peaks-inspired cowl for several of her dyer friends’ beautiful yarns.

This sweater is the result of a collaboration between Ross Farm, Destination Yarn and Shannon Okey/Knitgrrl for Maryland Sheep and Wool 2023. Jeanne from Destination designed sweater kit colorways for Ross Farm Cheviot yarn and Shannon’s team (including tech editor Andi Smith and sample knitter Candace Musmeci) worked out a castle-inspired yoke...

This sock is named after a tenth century Viking woman pirate and shieldmaiden whose fleet attacked Danish ships and many northern coastlines avenging her brother, whose throne had been stolen. Her sidekick Stikla turned to piracy in order to avoid marriage. Rusla was nicknamed the “Red Maid” and took part in many famous battles. In the end, her...

The Miss Babs Ansel colorway just calls to me with its lights and darks—I love the dimensional look of the fabric it creates, and combined with a highly textured surface like this one where open holes and high/low areas provide additional visual play for shadow and light, you get a fun, fast knit that looks a lot more complex than it is.

My friend Daniella’s middle name is Marie and she likes to append “Marie” onto anyone’s name for humorous purposes, not to mention her own business name (Rebel Marie). If she’s scolding me, I’m Shannon Marie (I’m not a Marie. I’m an honorary Marie now). Combine this with her asking me to name a pattern after her, and me already calling these so...

The Christmas Pickle is a midwestern Christmas tradition where a decoration (often a blown glass ornament in the shape of a pickle) is hidden in the Christmas tree. The finder often gets a small prize or is considered to be lucky for the coming year, much like a king cake baby in New Orleans. There’s some debate about the origin of the traditio...

This is what happens when you’re stuck for a pattern name and you live with a Comic Book Guy who happens to be watching Riverdale a lot these days. The chevrons remind me of a much more sophisticated Jughead hat, and in the original Archie comic books Jughead’s real name is Forsythe Pendleton “Jughead” Jones III.

I’ve been mulling this one over for a while, and at the last minute, both Andi Smith my tech editrix extraordinaire and I ended up knitting entirely new samples while we were away at Indie Knit and Spin in Pittsburgh, this pattern is fast, fun and super comfy to wear.

Cup cozies are truly the best knitted gifts to make. They take very little time to knit up (these take less than 2 hours), are perfect for stash busting, and are both practical and charming. These patterns includes multiple styles: tube cozies for to-go and travel cups (like those from Starbucks), a mug cozy for classic coffee mugs with a centr...

This sweet spa set is an excellent gift for a friend cough cough or yourself cough. Consisting of a face cloth, soap cozy and a lace edging you can attach to a towel (or robe, if you’re feeling especially ambitious), all you need is some fancy soap and maybe a nice basket to pull it all together.

These are a great quick knit for gifts—and an excellent layering piece on those crazy days when you don’t know just what the weather has in store for you. These photos were taken at The Harveyville Project with the original samples, where I teach Felt School every year. I’ve been dithering on ways to improve these forever and finally decided it...

I posted a preview photo of these on Instagram and my friend (slash- very talented knitter, felter and embroiderer) Harpa Jónsdóttir suggested I call them Hildur (battle), which seemed appropriate given all the other comments referenced them looking like armor somehow!

Looking for a scarf that meets both the “not boring to knit” for the knitter AND the “yes, my significant other or family member will wear this willingly” requirements. Believe me. I’ve been there. I have revoked handknits from people who do not appreciate the time they took to knit. Asher is knit on a very long needle from side to side which I...

It may sound morbid but I spend an awful lot of time in cemeteries, all things considered. For one, I like to play Pokémon Go and they tend to be good places to stock up on in-game supplies, and for another they tend to be calm, quiet peaceful places where I can walk around and think. “Sarilda” is a name that caught my eye on a headstone recent...

Most textured stitch patterns get lost when knitting with variegated or self-striping yarn. This hat pattern is the exception. It showcases the beautiful transitions of color in the Noro Silk Garden yarn. The Trinity Stitch pattern featured pops and since it is knit at a slightly looser gauge, it almost looks like lace and reduces the look of b...

Circumference

I’m thoroughly in love with Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Raven Clan colorways. If you view them from afar they look rather alike, but up close the subtle variations really grab you. This yarn was purchased during one of their open houses on a trip to Oregon and among other wonders I got to witness someone dyeing their hair in an indigo bath out back n...

Finished Measurements

Springbrook is the name of the street where you’ll find the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, aka Rhinebeck, one of the largest sheep and wool festivals in the country. We have a booth there every year in Building C, rent a great big house, cook amazing meals and generally consider it to be Knitter Christmas.

Koray means “ember moon” in Turkish and there’s something about this stitch pattern that reminds me of tilework, so there you go. The A Verb for Keeping Warm yarn is squishy and has that beautiful soft mulespun texture like some of my other favorite yarns (Beaverslide, Shelter). The wool for Pioneer yarn is grown and produced in California. Rea...

Gráinne (pronounced grahn-yeh) is a figure in Irish mythology who eloped with one of her elderly suitor’s warriors after forcing him with a geis, a kind of obligatory vow. This Hedgehog Fibres sock yarn will only obligate you to knit with its loveliness, not run away. (Though you could because these socks are super-extra-comfy).

Dalal is a woman’s given name in Arabic that means “to touch with love and kindness”—which sounds a lot like knitting to me! This gorgeous MadTosh yarn does an amazing job of displaying texture, and the yarn color is dreamy.

Simple patterns show off spectacular yarns best in my opinion. This Fable Fibers yarn is the most dimensional, rich grey you can imagine… it’s almost difficult to capture it in a photo. Every recent studio visitor has immediately picked it up off the mannequin and petted it! The asymmetric shape means it’s super-wearable in a variety of ways.

Sometimes you don’t NEED yarn but you HAVE to have it, and that was the case with this particular skein, dyed by Megan Ingman of Lichen and Lace, the former owner of Lettuce Knit in Toronto (one of my all-time favorite yarn stores). The pattern name derives from another word for eggplant or aubergine used in South Africa and South Asia.

I love cables and I love squishy, super-natural fibers like this Rowan Purelife yarn. The two are combined here in a scarf that looks complex but is actually a fairly simple knit once you get going. A good steam block will widen the scarf significantly but only shorten it a bit so be prepare for it to grow wider and open up the cables!

This mystery knit along will be taking place on Facebook in this group, led by tech editrix (and tea drinker) extraordinaire knitbrit. (If you’ve never seen her fueled-by-tea designs, check them out here on Ravelry!)

Why Hermes 3000? After the first sample was knit, the colors reminded me of the keys on my vintage Swiss Hermes 3000 typewriter (see photo). After acquiring that model plus an even older Olympia from a family estate sale I’m honestly getting the collector bug (help!). This cowl is simple to knit but is an excellent way to exercise control over ...

About last night… a few things about this hat are a little bit wonky. The cable stitch pattern is a drunken cable, which means the cables are worked closed together instead of regularly spaced apart. Then the placement of the cable itself is a bit askew. Although the placement of this cable is worked at the beginning of the round (for ease), th...

This shawlette incorporates a sliver of wave edging, so it seemed only appropriate to select a seaworthy name from among the many (hilarious) entries on my Facebook and Instagram…not to mention it’s knit from some of my precious Cephalopod Yarn stash.

Most days I drink my coffee out of a big Mason jar with a Cuppow cup lid on top, which is great unless it’s way too hot. You get the opposite problem with a French press—don’t want it to cool down too fast! These cozies can solve that problem for you!

Manicorn is our new studio mascot, aka what happens when you find a bunch of mannequin torsos in the new building and you already have a unicorn mask…

Intended to be worn with 1 inch / 2.54 cm of negative ease.

Finished Measurements

Sometimes you need a simple knit—for traveling, the movies, or for knitting in a room full of non-knitters who don’t know that face you’re making means “shut up, I’m counting!” This fits the bill in a most elegant way, and makes the most of one of my favorite yarn skeins. Before it was knit up I had been known to pet the Petworth…

Garter stitch doesn’t get nearly enough respect. It’s versatile, pretty, and shows off many different yarn styles well. Why “Miso”? I’m a giant fan of miso, not just as soup, and am currently learning to ferment it from scratch. Miso seems plain and boring, but it adds a LOT to anything you use it in…just like garter stitch! This would be a gre...

Naming patterns is hard sometimes but the pointy, mountainous “peaks” formed by the pattern immediately reminded me of the mountains we climbed when I studied abroad in Austria. These are named after our favorite German professor’s wife there—he constantly called her Schatzi (Darling), it was adorable.

Have you seen the movie Bright Star? Put the pattern down right this minute and go find yourself a copy. Poet John Keats and his beloved Fanny Brawne, who he called a “minx” in correspondence (see the letter reproduced at the end of this pattern) are the perfect thing to watch while you knit, especially when Fanny is whipping up some fashionabl...

Are you a Patsy Cline fan? You can blame my grandmother for getting me into her music. When I look at the triangles in this pattern for too long I get Patsy’s song “Triangle” caught in my head. Not the worst earworm in the world, but still… tra la la la, triangle.

Mokosh is a Slavic goddess, protector of women’s work (including spinning, weaving and shearing sheep), as well as women’s destiny. The colors of this shawl evoke the damp new beginnings of springtime—Mokosh’s name is derived from words that mean “moisture,” which seemed apropos for a shawl knit from colorways named Pond Scum and Scumbubbles. I...

Metis is Athena’s mother in Greek mythology (Her son, Porus, is the “personification of resourcefulness or expediency” according to Plato). Metis’ children are a good summary of your typical knitter’s skillset, no? This is a fairly simple pattern, but looks infinitely more complex thanks to the multicolor Noro yarn used. (Color #332 is the clos...

Designed to walk a runway at New York Fashion Week with Bunny Paige jewelry (which is made from Swarovski crystals), Rowena is beaded with Swarovski jet bicones that shimmer and flash like a raven’s wing when the wearer moves. Paired with a Blue Moon Fiber Arts colorway from the raven series, and featuring a feather-like lace pattern, this shaw...

Hat uses US #5-6, mitts uses US #4-5

Farmstand incorporates all the different techniques I like to use to make a seamless raglan cardigan that fits well, is incredibly simple to knit, and can utilize so many different kinds of yarn. Here I’ve alternated Cascade Eco Wool with Noro Kureyon but you could also use Noro Silk Garden, or even scraps of similar weight yarn.

This hat is named after Xanthoparmelia, a particularly pretty form of lichen, in homage to the Lichen and Lace yarn used to knit it! I’m not sure if this is one of the many types of lichen that can be used to dye yarn (see photos in my book Spin to Knit for some of the gorgeous purples you can get from lichen dyes), but it’s definitely one you’...

Cydonia oblonga is the botanical name for the common quince, an underappreciated fruit that I love (and this is knit from Quince & Co yarn, so…). When cooked, quince becomes a beautiful rosy pink like this hat!

Kimber, my sample knitter for these socks, lives in Florida with a long haired dachshund named Mo who looks exactly like my former dachsie Anezka. This Spunky Eclectic colorway paired with the stitch pattern reminds me of a crocodile, almost like our long-snouted little dog friends.

Perun is the Slavic god of thunder and lightning. The “thunder marks” representing Perun found on pottery and house roof beams echo the round shape of this cowl and its openings. What can I say? I read too many mythology books.

The domesticated apple, including the Granny Smith cultivar this color brings to mind, is my favorite fruit and a source of constant study as a cidermaker. Every year I bring home endless boxes of hard-to-find cider apples from Rhinebeck and turn them into hard cider for the next year’s Sheep and Wool weekend. (Tip: use a farmhouse or saison be...

“Casta” means “twisted” in Irish, and as this is a cabled pattern knit in Tahki’s Tara Tweed, I thought it an appropriate name for this pretty little cowl. This is a fairly quick knit and perfect for those in-between weather days where you don’t want to wear a huge scarf to stay warm but need something to ward off the chill. The loftiness of th...

Calantha—“lovely blossom” from Greek “kalos anthos”—draws its name from Lady Caroline Lamb’s Gothic novel Glenarvon. In it, Calantha is a thinly veiled stand-in for Lamb herself—the onetime lover of Lord Byron. Her obsession with him ignited when the poet spurned her. Previously she had described Byron as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” I ho...

Signy is the first pattern release of the Knitgrrl 52 project at Patreon (learn more here). Signy is an old Norse name that means “new victory,” and that seems to sum up what we’re trying to achieve with this project nicely.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

Grey-diant is part of a special kit that will be available in the Cooperative Press booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015. Participants in the CP social media experiment are getting a copy free as thanks for their help!

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

These cowl samples will be “in the wild” at their featured yarn’s company booths at Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015.

Icehouse is a charted design by Shannon Okey designed as a scarf. You can knit it in any yarn you like, and in multiple ways: as double-knit, as stranded color work (there are some very long floats in parts of the pattern, I recommend Kaffe Fassett’s method for twisting the yarn as you go to keep the floats stable), or as a knit-purl pattern.

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

This book will be released winter 2015; join the Cooperative Press and Knitgrrl mailing lists, and you’ll get an email when it’s been released!

What can I say? This pattern sprang, fully formed, from the yarn ball. (See more preview information here on my blog). She’s been called a lot of things since…Corn Goddess, Tonantzin…but “Maize” stuck. Like ripe corn in a summertime field, with cabled furrows running around the body. You can also omit the sleeves for a tunic-length vest.

Sometimes it’s best to just let the yarn shine through. This soft and squooshy yarn from Alchemy comes in many gorgeous colors and makes an ordinary stitch pattern extraordinary!

Please note: gauge differs between one-color Stockinette stitch in the round and Stockinette stitch over Chart pattern in the round

It’s so hard to be married to a knitter. (Yes, that was sarcasm). You get things custom-knitted for you, you’re even given input on what you would like to have in the final product, and all the knitter asks is for a model when it’s done.

Yes, you really can knit this in an hour! The name “Minu” means heaven or paradise in Persian, and you will agree with the name when the cold winter wind is whipping around your head this month.

Sample knit using Noro Kureyon #260.

A simple yet effective scarf with different, yet attractive public and private-facing sides, Uzume makes a beautiful, wavy cabled fabric courtesy of twisted purl stitches.

Why call this hat Xylem? The lacy eyelets and other design features reminded me of xylem under a microscope (see here, or check out the Google image search results)! It all seemed to click into place, since the color of this lovely yarn is called Sap -- enjoy!

RAVELRY FEATURED PATTERN 1-15 AUGUST 2010

JOIN THE SUMMER 2010 KNITALONG!

This cardigan set’s name is also a woman’s name in Japan: in Japanese 聡 (sato) “wise” + 美 (mi) “beautiful”.

From now until 31 January 2010, ALL proceeds from Ennis after PayPal fees will go to Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders.

Knit from cushy Cascade Eco Wool, Copine was inspired by a well-loved thrift store sweater and redesigned for handknitting in a larger gauge. This sweater originally appeared in Yarn Forward magazine and is now being sold directly by the designer.

Originally published in UK magazine Yarn Forward, Red Lotus is a knitted-then-felted bag with an unusual petal construction. Pattern includes directions for using your own handles or for knitting handles, your choice.

I developed this pattern as a good introduction to stranded colorwork knitting for people who don’t want to dive right in with a sweater or do something fiddly and small-gauge. It takes part of a skein of Noro Kureyon and part of a skein of Cascade 220. You can substitute with any other multicolor and solid yarn you like, the important point is...

These stylish horseshoe-cable wristwarmers were designed as a simple, quick knit that will also show you how to read a chart and compare it to written directions. The word directions for the cable even line up directly with the same line in the chart!

Some people see a knitted dissected frog and say “ew!” Some people end up designing a sweater because it gave them an idea. (Note: I am one of the latter)

This began life as my 2008 NaKniSweMo sweater, but as the compliments piled up at the LYS, I decided to offer it for sale as well. It’s extraordinarily flattering for plus-sized women, includes shaping where you need it, and could be knit from just about any yarn you fancy that cables well.

This is the official sweater for NaKniSweMo 2008 (see http://www.ravelry.com/groups/nakniswemo-kal) -- we are selling it to raise money for a local no-kill animal shelter. Design by Elaine Hilliard (mom2bassets), pattern by Shannon Okey. Please note Elaine designed this; it’s listed under Shannon Okey to enable selling in her Rav store.

Katalin is a stylish, simple-to-knit möbius wrap and wristlets from yummy merino/alpaca/silk yarn. Sizing the pattern down is easy if you’d rather have a lovely neckwarmer instead of a full-body wrap, just cast on fewer stitches!

This hat is named after “Queen of the Milliners” Caroline Reboux (1837-1927) who – in addition to her hat-related innovations – divided half her profits among the lead cashier, workroom director and other women in her employ. She is perhaps best known for inventing the felt cloche hat. See http://tinyurl.com/reboux for more info on her!

Alt Fiber the book is available now: http://tinyurl.com/6byj8p

Alt Fiber the book is available now: http://tinyurl.com/6byj8p

Alt Fiber the book is now shipping: http://tinyurl.com/6byj8p

The cable charts for this pattern are now available on the knitgrrl.com errata page and as a free download here on my Ravelry store.