Applesauce Cowl

The last quarter of the year is already here!?! It feels like every year I get older the years go by faster and I wasn't fully prepared for that to happen. With the last quarter of the year comes my last design as the in-house designer for Leading Men Fiber Arts. It's been such a pleasure working with Steve and Andy while exploring their beautiful yarns and awesome community. 

So, time to share with you...the Applesauce Cowl! None of my other Leading Men designs worked with a gradient and I really needed one to shine. Applesauce Cowl uses slip stitch cables and simple ribbing for a highly textured and visual cowl. 

I originally used this stitch pattern on my sock design Applesauce Socks and thought the crossed slipped stitches would work great in a cowl design! The original sample used 6, 20 gram mini skeins for 120 grams total but I fully plan to knit another sample in a single skein (variegated this time) and use only 100 grams. 

The slip stitches in this pattern are specifically written without using a cable needle which makes it a great travel project. No cable needle means you don't need to keep track of it! Pretty much any fingering weight yarn you are comfortable wearing around your neck will work for this design. I wouldn't recommend a self-striping as it most likely won't line up with the pattern. 

Curved and Squared Shawl

It's fall season which means it is very busy here at All Knit Up Designs. Fall season = show season, so for the last 3 weekends (and headed to my next one) I've been vending at fiber festivals! But, just because I'm out and about in traveling the PNW doesn't mean I haven't been working on a pattern. 

Going to fiber shows is one of my favorite parts of my job, I love spending time with knitters and getting to chat about my designs. When I talk with fiber folks at a show I take what they say into consideration. I had a few people mention that they don't love or wear triangle shawls, which is mostly what I design. I have a few different shapes like Wrapped in Color with 3/4 shaping or Me Before Brioche with crescent shaping but not nearly as many as I have different shapes of triangle shawls. I decided to take the feedback and add a few more crescents to the mix. 

Curved and Squared is my newest crescent shawl and it is a sister pattern to All Squared Up with a mitered square bind off, so another scrappy shawl to add to your collection! Curved and Squared uses a welted pattern in the body, which is a 4 row repeat with only 1 purl row and perfectly easy to memorize. 

The body of the original Curved and Squared sample is two skeins of fingering weight yarn at approximately 847 yards and then 13 colors for the mitered square. I opted to reuse colors in my sample because I was using a mini skein set from Road Trip Sock Yarn but you could use 3 grams of 32 different colors for a fully scrappy version. 

If you're intimidated by the mitered squares you can check out my tutorial here for a more in-depth explanation on how to knit them. The mitered squares are really where you get to play with color in Curved and Squared, so dive into your scraps and see what different colors you can combine for your wearable art! 

Summer Heat Worsted

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love to purchase single skeins. So much potential in one ball of yarn! BUT, then I have to find something to do with it. 

Summer Heat Worsted is my newest cowl design to take care of that problem. Summer Heat Worsted uses a single skein (100 grams) of worsted weight yarn in a slip stitch pattern to highlight the color play in variegated yarn. 

The original Summer Heat pattern was a sock design that I loved so much that I knew a cowl was needed. The fingering weight version came in early 2025 (check it out here) and now here is the worsted version! 

Summer Heat Worsted was designed with a single skein of Malabrigo Seis Cabos (which I loved knitting with) but would work great in any worsted weight yarn. Instead of slipped your stitched with yarn in back, you'll slip your stitches with yarn in front so that the float will show off your colors. The float is then caught on a consecutive row and creates the 'V's of the heat wave. 

The stitch pattern is easy to play with so I think that adding a few repeats would work to do a DK version as well. So what are you waiting for? Grab a single skein from your stash and cast on! 

This and That Shawl

Already into the 3rd quarter of the year! What!? This is my third design with Leading Men Fiber Arts and I adore the color combo. I love pulling elements from different designs of mine and creating something new. This and That Shawl has lots of little different elements, 'A Little bit of This and a Little bit of That' pulled from other designs. 

This and That shawl features asymmetric shaping, stripes, bobbles, and finishing with a little lace. My original sample uses a main color and 3 mini skeins used to highlight the colors in the variegated yarn. You could make your version super scrap happy and make every bobble/stripe row a different color. 

The way the shawl is designed leaves plenty of room for customization. If you have more yardage you can expand your repeats, make a 2 color version and highlight your 2 favorite colors together, or use a gradient ball of yarn in your stripes! 

Any fingering weight yarn you're comfortable wearing around your neck will be great! If you're interested in my original colors you can check out the Ravelry project bag here. 

All the Stripes Shawl

I'm a one skein collector, if I fall in love with a skein (usually of fingering weight) it's most likely going to come home with. Buuuut once it's home it joins the collection of other single skeins that I haven't found projects for. 

All the Stripes helped solve that problem by combining what look like totally different yarns into one cohesive shawl. All the Stripes uses 4 skeins of fingering weight (some can be leftovers!) using side to side shaping with a slip stitch edge which then allows you to pick up stitches to add your bottom edging.

The stripes run completely different ways for a graphic and bold shawl to add to your wardrobe. All the Stripes uses KFB for its simple shaping and slip stitches for the edge. The i-cord bind off is probably the most 'challenging' part of the shawl but it's very easy to knit. 

All the Stripes, with its side to side shaping, is easily customizable to reach the size you want. If you'd prefer a shawlette size versus a shawl size then you can start your decreasing section earlier. Your knitting is supposed to work for you, not just for you to follow the pattern. So, take a dive through your stash, see which yarns have been sitting lonely for a while and check out All the Stripes! 

DIY Rainbow Shawl

Mini skeins are fabulous! I use them as a way to try new dyers or colorways, easy to purchase a few to support a new local yarn shop, and a fantastic way to try new colors outside of your regular palette. 

DIY Rainbow Shawl is the second installment of the Leading Men Fiber Arts quarter designs from All Knit Up Designs. You can check out the 'in-house designer' post here. 

My newest shawl design is an asymmetric triangle shawl that uses as many or as few mini skeins as you'e like! Original sample used 9, 20gram mini skeins to create a kaleidoscope of color on your needles. DIY Rainbow uses two color garter to create unique blends of color between 2 mini skeins. 

The original sample used a variety of dye styles; tonal, speck and variegated but they were all 20 grams. You could also use all 10 grams or 50 grams if you'd prefer. The slip stitch edges give a clean and crisp finish with a nice i-cord bind off. Any minis with a base you're comfortable wearing around your neck are perfect. 

If you'd prefer to use the two color garter technique with less colors and bigger skeins you can check out Dillon or Splash. If you'd like a crescent shape vs a triangle Me Before Brioche is for you. I can't wait to see the Rainbow you come up with! 

In House Designing

 Last April (2024) I attended/vended at Makerfest in Loveland CO. I met lots of lovely vendor and fiber enthusiast. Among those fabulous people were Steve and Andy owners of Leading Men Fiber Arts. Both appreciated my use of scraps and mini skeins in my designs. A bit after the event they reached out and asked if I'd be interested in being the 2025 in-house designer for their mini skein monthly club! Are. You. Kidding. Me. I was so flattered that they asked, but as this is business I asked for details of what this collaboration entails and what the benefits for both sides are. 

All that to say, I'm the in-house designer for Leading Men Fiber Arts for 2025! Once a quarter I'll put out a pattern using mini skeins and Leading Men Yarn while Steve and Andy will put all pattern information into that month's mini skein shipment. After the shipment goes out they will run a knit along with my patterns. 

The patterns will be available to everyone, mini skein subscribers get a special discount code. First pattern is Street Mitts and the second is coming at the end of this month!