Free “A Little Knitted Heart Motif” Pattern

Recently, I wanted to send a friend a card for her wedding but couldn’t find anything I liked in the shops that didn’t cost the Earth. So, I thought I’d knit a little heart motif.

I searched for a pattern, but couldn’t really find what I was after so I thought I’d have a go at creating my own.

This is a pattern for a little heart motif, which measures approximately 4 x 4cm depending on your gauge. You can make it in all colours. The idea is that the motif is used to decorate a card but it probably can be used for whatever catches your imagination – decorated jeans, t-shirts, bags etc. The idea was originally for a wedding card, but can also be used for christenings, birthdays, anniversaries, births and anything else you can think of!

Have fun, and let me see your pictures! Feel free to knit this for personal use or for charity, but as with any of the patterns we’re posting on this site please don’t use the pattern for personal profit or reproduce without permission.

The Ravelry pattern link is here. You can see my one knitted up on Ravelry here.

A Little Knitted Heart Motif

A Little Knitted Heart Motif

Equipment:

Small amounts of DK wool in chosen colour

2.75mm knitting needles (UK12, US2)

Stitch holder

Needles

Cotton (in matching colour)

Beads or other decoration

Method

Cast on 1 stitch in chosen wool

Rows 1-19:

Row 1 and all odd-number rows: purl to end

Row 2: Make a stitch by knitting into the front and back of the stitch (kfb) (2 stitches)

Row 4: kfb, k1 (3 stitches)

Row 6: kfb, k1, kfb (5 stitches)

Row 8: kfb, k3, kfb (7 stitches)

Row 10: kfb, k5, kfb (9 stitches)

Row 12: kfb, k7, kfb (11 stitches)

Row 14: kfb, k9, kfb (13 stitches)

Row 16: knit

Row 18: knit

Rows 20-end:

Row 20: k1, k2tog, k2tog, k1 (4 stitches on the right needle. Put the remaining stitches on the stitch holder and continue knitting with the stitches on the right needle only)

Row 21: purl to end

Row 22: k1, k2tog, k1 (3 stitches)

Row 23: purl to end

Row 24: knit to end (3 stitches)

Thread yarn through remaining stitches and bind off, taking care not to distort the shape.

Take the remaining stiches off the stitch holder and put back onto the needle.

Row 25: cast off one stitch, k2tog, k2tog, k1 (4 stitches)

Repeat rows 21-25.

Tie in loose ends, taking care to keep the shape of the heart. Cover with a damp cloth and lightly press with a warm iron. Do not press too hard, or the stitch detail will be lost.

Using the cotton and a needle, decorate with beads.

Your heart is now ready for use. I use a few dabs of a strong glue to stick it to a card.

theknittedcupcake x

Yarn Store Listings

Hi Guys,

We noticed that a lot of the threads in the Ravelry forums were about Local Yarn Stores. So we thought we’d make a page as a resource for people looking for wool shops. We’ve only got a few basic details on two small areas at the moment, but with your help we hope to make it bigger and more useful for fellow knitters/crocheters. It only intends to cover the UK, but if people from elsewhere want to list their LYS we don’t mind.

It covers a few shops in Staffordshire and North Wales/Chester, UK at present but there are lots missing at the moment. If you know details of any yarn stores in the areas we are covering, please comment and let us know and we’ll update the page. In addition, if you have compiled a list for your area and want to add it just let us know. wi

Hope you find this useful.

theknittedcupcake x

Website of the Week: 2

My website of the week this week is The Little Knitting Company. It’s a great little site where you can buy great yarn, great bags, etc. It has some lovely ideas for Christmas. There’s a knitting club and workshops, based in Oxfordshire, UK. The site looks really good and is very easy to navigate.

The Little Knitting Company

Accessory of the Week: 2

Hi All,

This week the accessory of the week is the fabric heart knitting bag from John Lewis. It’s really useful for keeping all your needles, yarn and WIPs in when you’re on the move. It’s also good for keeping organised at home. I think it’s really cute!

John Lewis Heart Knitting Bag

 

It costs £18.50 and is available on-line or in store (although is currently out of stock on-line).  You can also get a matching knitting roll and craft bag. Then you can be matching – how neat!

It’s a Mystery!

I think I’ve probably mentioned this before, but Claire and I are knitting mystery projects at the moment. The rules are quite simple.

1. The pattern must be original and invented by us

2. The pattern must be issued in approx. 10 parts

3. The pattern must use materials that we are likely to already have

Every few days or so, we message each other part of the pattern to knit. It’s quite interesting as we have no idea what we’re knitting (and also seem to have no idea what pattern we’ve actually created for the other person!).

We started this project on around the 8th of November and are currently on the 4th part.  I was told I could use any colour for my project, and I chose pink. It started off with an i-cord and then I did some knitting in the round to make some sort of tubular structure. I have NO idea what it might be. It looks like it has some sort of tail or something!

The pattern I wrote for Claire is a little less adventurous but I think she’s getting on OK with it. She’s using a really nice multi-coloured cotton in pale pastels. Hopefully, when we’ve finished our projects we will post the pattern on this blog if they turn out OK. And then we’ll commence the next mystery project…

This is Claire's mystery project for me to knit

This is my mystery project that Claire's knitting

Is anyone else knitting mystery projects or has anyone ever participated in one before? If not, it’s a great idea for a group of you to do – it’s fantastic fun!

Anyway, better go!

the knitted cupcake x

Accessory of the Week: 1

I found these really cute needles on Etsy.com. For those of you who haven’t visited this site yet, it’s full of really quirky and cute handmade things! Check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=cat3_gallery_9&listing_id=17194633

Cupcake Needles

 

They retail at $22 excl shipping, which is just under £15 so I guess that’s a little pricey…but maybe a special treat?  You can also buy cupcake stitch markers which are also cute!