My Favorite Free Patterns to Knit or Crochet Scarves, Shawls and Cowls

I'm always looking for something lightweight that's easy to toss on and not think too much about. This cowl uses 3 balls (each a different color) of Classic Elite Yarn's Silky Alpaca Lace in an easy to follow pattern knit up on US8 needles. The pattern is designed by Cheryl Olson of Unwind. The yarn comes in both solids and Handpaints. Think I'll try mixing them both.

 

Classic Elite's Classic Silk Yarn is used in this skinny scarf designed by Talitha Kuomi. It knits up quickly, with just 13 stitches per row and only requires 1 ball of yarn, knit on US9 needles. Download the pattern here.

My Favorite Free Knit and Crochet Patterns for Blankets

Blackberry Stripe Baby Blanket is worked using 7 colors of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease (1449 total yards). It's based on an easy to learn Bobble Stitch, and links to a how-to video if the stitch is new to you. For the blanket pictured she used 7 different colors of yarn and randomly grabbed a different skein for each row.












Great blanket made up of 24 squares using self-striping sock yarn. Calls for 750 grams of yarn & US 4 needle for a gauge of 23 sts x 46 rows in garter st = 10 x 10 cm / 4'' x 4''. Click on the picture to go to the pattern.


Happy Colors Blanket is crocheted following a free tutorial on the Just-do blog.


A cheerful crocheted blanket, Orange Blossom  mixes stripes and flowers in warm summer colors using an H hook and a gauge of 14 dc x 8 rows = 10 x 10 cm / 4'' x 4''.

One of my all time favorite designers, Kaffe Fassett, has posted free instructions to make this patchwork knit

blanket, the Jubilee Throw, using Rowan Felted Tweed DK. It's a very extensive free pattern, written in several languages. But when you scroll to the end it has charts for each of the squares, any one of which could make an interesting cushion or bag. 

"An African Adventure", created by Horst Schulz. It'a on Ravelry so there are lots of different versions for inspiration.

My Favorite Free Hat Patterns to Knit or Crochet

A list, with photos, of my favorite free patterns to knit or crochet hats.There are so many lists of free knit and crochet patterns out there, but they usually don't have photos. So here's a quick list of what I think are the best free patterns out there. Leave me a message below with a link to your favorite if you'd like to add it here.

Easy Slouchy Hat

This is the hat I've knit the most. It can be finished in an afternoon and using variegated yarns make it look much more complicated than it actually is. The pattern is available as a free Ravelry download. It's shown here in Twisted Sister Jazz yarn. I used two colors (60 & 69) and alternated with two rows of each color throughout the hat. I've also seen it knit up in Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton (if you're on Ravelry you can see a photo here), Malabrigo Rios (Ravelry photo here), Debbie Bliss Andes Alpaca Silk (Ravelry photo here).

La Parisenne

I love the zigazaggy stripes of this one. the pattern calls for a yarn called SockPixie Sock yarn. The free knitting pattern for this beret can be downloaded here.It appears to be knit with an artisan dyed yarn that isn't available currently. I of course will go to one of my favorite yarns for striping, Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn or Noro Silk Garden Sock Green/Aqua/Brown.

Undergrowth Hat on Knitty

I love Knitty. But I even find it frustrating. Entering a search for "hat" brings up a list with no pictures. And of all the hats on the site, Undergrowth is the one I want to remember. (Download for Undergrowth Free Knit Hat Pattern is here.)  It calls for 1 skein in each of two colors of Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport (colors pictured are #103 Deep Sea & #N003 Grey Heather.)

Tortora Hat on Knitty

Bobbles are one of my favorite stitches. Another Knitty option (free download for the knitting pattern is here), this knit hat mixes bobbles and stripes in an interesting way. It calls for 1 skein of Lana Grossa Alta Moda Alpaca Yarn and has versions for both a typical beanie and a slouchy toque.

Hatticus by Susanna Celso

A great cable pattern knit out of a bulky yarn, the Hatticus knit hat by Susanna Celso is available as a free download on Ravelry with notes on her blog. It's shown here in Cascade Magnum, requiring about 80 yards according to her notes.

Lollipop Hat by Brittany Tyler

This is a fun hat that looks like it will be fun to knit. The instructions, available to download from the Tangled webzine, say it can be knit in up to 8 different colored stripes, making it a good project for using up leftover bits.

Free Pattern: Sugar Cone Skully Hat. Uses worsted weight yarn. Looks as though it will be quick and easy to make.

Norwich is a slouchy stockinette cap worked in the round, with a simple rolled brim using 2 balls of Berroco Floret.

Favorite Free Knit and Crochet Patterns for Bags

There are so many free patterns to available that I find it a bit overwhelming to choose, or to keep track of the ones I might want to make someday. There are sites that list free patterns, but they only list the name, not a photo of the piece. Even Ravelry can get overwhelming. So I'm going to start linking to favorites of mine, with pictures. Hopefully someday I'll be able to include my own photo of each of the items....

"Sunburst Granny Bag" by Rajeswari on her blog diapermum is a fresh colorful take on a summer bag. It's got a very thorough tutorial and a link to instructions on making the sunburst square.

Hexagon Beach Bag in Sugar'n Cream

Made out of Lily Sugar'n Cream this brightly colored crocheted beach bag (the body measures 15" x 17") requires just 15 motifs.And at just under $2.50 a ball, the whole bag is only $20. Seems like a perfect summer project! Get the free pattern in .pdf format here from the Lily website.

Materials needed:
Lily® Sugar’n Cream® (70.9 g/2.5 oz; 109 m/120 yds)
Contrast A
Red (00095) 60 m/66 yds or 1 ball
Contrast B
Hot Orange (01628) 65 m/71 yds or 1 ball
Contrast C
Yellow (00010) 90 m/100 yds or 1 ball
Contrast D
Hot Green (01712) 95 m/105 yds or 1 ball
Contrast E
Light Blue(00026) 200 m/220 yds or 2 balls
Contrast F
Mod Blue (01111) 215 m/236 yds or 2 balls

Size 4 mm (U.S. G or 6) crochet hook or size needed to obtain gauge. Optional: Fabric for lining approx 18” x 36” [45.5 x 91.5 cm].

"Staghorn" Cabled Purse in Sugar'n Cream

This knit bag with a large cable stitch repeat reminds me of the Margaret Nicole Bags that I've seen in Vogue & Elle and that are $150 to $200! This one is 18" x 10". You could easily substitute either the straight or round handles that Margaret Nicole uses and add a big satin ribbon. And with only 4 balls of yarn needed, it will only be about $10 for the yarn plus a few dollars for the handles. Download a .pdf of the pattern here from the Lily website.

Materials needed:
Lily® Sugar’n Cream® (70.9 g/2.5 oz; 109 m/120 yds)
Ecru (00004) 345 m/375 yds or 4 balls
Size 4.5 mm (U.S. 7) knitting needles or size
needed to obtain gauge. Cable needle.
2 leather purse handles 24” [61 cm] longas shown in the picture. Or substitute Round Bamboo Handles

Inga's Bag

Another great crocheted bag. It's the same square that's used in the Babette Blanket. Which gives you something to do with the squares you've already made but have come to realize you'll never get enough done for the whole blanket.....
Download the pdf for the bag here.

The bag is shown here in a cotton yarn from the UK called Anchor Magicline. It's essentially the same as Lily® Sugar’n Cream, which also comes in a variegated blue that would look very much like the Magicline.

Stripey Noro Messenger Bag

I can't think of anything I've seen in Noro that I don't love, but this striped knit bag is pretty terrific. Striped knitting is so much fun with Noro yarns. I always work through it very quickly because I'm so excited to see what happens next with the yarn. And the shape and size of this bag are just what I like, big, but not huge. Designer Deborah Cooke talks about it in a blog post, and the pattern is available to download on Ravelry.

It calls for 3 skeins of Noro Kureyon and 3 skeins of Patons Classic Wool Yarn.

The Simply Lovely Clutch

Seattle Yarn features another Noro Yarn, Tidiori, in this quick to make knit entrelac clutch. The relatively small size, 8" x 5" make this bag a great way to ease into learnign to knit entrelac. Tidiori was discontinued in Spring 2007, but Noro Silk Garden would make an excellent substitute. the pattern is available as a free pdf download on their website.

I'm intrigued by both the unusual shapes of this 

crocheted bag. A free download on the Interweave

 site, the bag is crocheted with 4 different colors of Rowan Cotton Glace: Heather #828 , Shoot # 814 , Sky #749 and Persimmon #832 . (The pattern calls for Pier Blue which has been discontinued, but Sky is a very close shade.) You'll  need 1 ball of each.











A cheerful summery bag to crochet is available on the Drops Design site. The Sicily bag calls for size 3.5 mm/E/4 (or size needed) to get 17 dc = width 10 cm / 4''.  1 square = approx. 10 x 10 cm / 4'' x 4''.