I do love basic knitting patterns that don’t take a lot of thought to knit, things that are useful and wearable and get the job done without a lot of fuss, effort or knitting time.
But there are some relatively easy ways to make even a simple pattern a little more interesting. You can throw in a stripe or a little bit of colorwork, or try some color blocking to make the project more visually appealing (not to mention more fun to knit).
This intarsia sweater from Bigger than Life Knits (the real name of the sweater is Phakama) uses color blocking with two colors on the body that are inverted on the sleeves.
This is done, as the description explains, with intarisa, but this is as easy as intarsia gets. All you have to do is remember to lock the strands of yarn together when you change colors, otherwise you’ll be knitting two separate pieces.
If you’ve never done intarsia before this is a great way to start because you don’t have to follow a chart or deal with multiple balls of yarn. It’s not any more difficult than knitting regular stripes, but gives a much more interesting effect.
I’ve actually been working on a blanket style cardigan using the same technique but with three color blocks, and it is almost as mindless as straight stockinette in a single color.
This pattern has drop shoulders and a V-neck and is worked from the top down. It calls for worsted weight wool yarn and come sin 11 sizes. The bust measurement ranges from 32.5 to 72.5 inches or 82.5 to 184 cm when the sweater is buttoned. The button bands are worked in double knitting to make them extra smooth.
You can grab the pattern from Bigger than Life Knits on Etsy.
[Photo: Bigger than Life Knits]
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