2021: a mosaic knitting stitch pattern

I have a small tradition of turning the digits of the upcoming year into knitting patterns. I must admit the last few years, I’ve felt less and less like doing it because each year feels grimmer.

Still, I’ve decided to go ahead and do it for 2021 with a kind of determined persistence. May this coming year be better! Also, I like the result. (I’m posting this a few days early because I have a Patreon post that will go up on January 1.)

A nice thing about mosaic knitting is that the charts are similar to the final appearance of the knitting, so I’m not going to provide a swatch. Mosaic knitting looks difficult, but it’s not as hard as it looks! Basically, knit two-row stripes, and slip stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern.

Here’s a detailed blog post I wrote about how it works.

2020: two knitting charts to celebrate the new year

Happy New Year! (A couple of days early, but I’ll be posting a Patreon word on Wednesday.)

I turn the digits of the year into a knitting chart each year. This is one of those times that the design is such that turning a given set of numbers into a chart produces a traditional design.

This year’s chart was easily converted into a mosaic knitting chart so you get both this time! (I don’t think the mosaic design is a traditional pattern, though it could easily be.)

2019: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

It’s become a personal tradition of mine to use my encoding methods to turn the next year into a knitting stitch pattern, and so here is 2019. Happy New Year!

2018: a free mosaic knitting stitch pattern

I have a tradition (four years is a tradition, right?) of using the four digits of the upcoming year as a basis for designing a stitch pattern to celebrate the New Year. May this year be a good one for all of us.

The first three years were all lace. This year, I realized that one of the possible code grids for 2018 was suitable for a mosaic knitting chart. This is the first time I’ve seen that possibility in my code grids, so of course I had to go with it.

The thing about mosaic knitting is that it just looks difficult. It’s really easy to do! Basically, you’re knitting two row stripes, and slipping stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern. If you can knit stripes, you can knit mosaic patterns.

Here’s an article from Twist Collective about how it works.

2017: a free garter lace stitch pattern

After two years of making a stitch pattern from the digits of the new year, I decided to keep going. This one is a bit different from my usual lace – because of the placement of the yarnovers, I decided not to add extra plain rows. This is reversible garter lace, but not terribly tricky.

As some of my stitches do, it reminds me of plant cells under a microscope. I like it as a serviceable, reversible, non-curly, basic stitch pattern; it’s nothing spectacular.

Happy 2016: a free lace knitting stitch pattern

Last year I made a stitch pattern for 2015 using the digits of the year as the basis for the design. I had so much fun doing it that I thought I’d do it again.

Happy New Year! May the year ahead be peaceful and content, with lots of time for knitting or whatever things you like to make.

Happy New Year! A free stitch pattern: 2015

Just on a whim, I decided to turn 2015 into charts for knitting and other needlework. The lace design is a ribbing pattern—I inserted the purl columns to simplify the design. It seems entirely likely that this is very similar to some other already designed lace; the simpler the encoding, the more likely the design is to exist, in my experience. Optional beads could be inserted in the central purl column on rows 1 and 5.

Enjoy, and have a happy new year!