Gorgeous colorwork knitting is all over Ravelry these days. From intricate Fair Isle projects to simple stripes, it's easy to fall in love with color.

I thought I'd take a walk though the patterns we offer and find my top five. I also have a great stranded-knitting tip for you!

Selwin by Kyle Kunneke

Selwin explores the Armenian stranded knitting technique with a tiled pattern full of undulating color on the front, and structured columns of stripes on the back. Choose your favorite colors of DK-weight yarn to make this exciting, unisex project.

Missoni Inspired Blanket: A free pattern!

The house of Missoni has been mixing vibrant colors with the knitted chevron stitch for over five decades; they definitely do it best. But Diana Harker’s version, inspired by the famous design house, most certainly brings about the same happy vibe. The FREE pattern has three size choices, from baby blanket to afghan. Knit this in HiKoo Kenzie—we have great color choices!

Woodlands Yoke Pullover by Sandi Rosner

The yoked pullover is super popular right now, and it's not hard to see why. Sandi's Woodland's Yoke is spectacular, with its bold, graphic colorwork, is a spectacular example of this style. To round things out, the pattern is repeated above the hem and at the cuffs. This project is a relatively quick knit, because it's worked up in chunky yarn. Use Universal Deluxe Chunky and Universal Deluxe Chunky Naturals for this beauty.

3-Color Cashmere Cowl by Joji Locatelli

I fell in love with this cowl when I saw a sample at a yarn shop. I immediately put it in my Ravelry queue and started dreaming about which yarns to use. As usual, other projects bumped it out of line because I can't control myself! But this little luxury stayed in the back of my mind, for sure.

I was visiting that same yarn shop, and the owner was having a sample sale. Guess what was part of the sale? You got it: The 3-Color Cashmere Cowl! I snapped that sucker up instantly, and I've worn it pretty much constantly all winter. LOVE!

Use any soft fingering-weight yarn for this amazing pattern.

Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt: A free pattern!

This has got to be one of the cutest hats EVER. Melissa took a darling sheep pattern and used it all around the circumference of a precious baby hat. They stand out so well against a green "grass"  and blue "sky" background, and are topped of with a white pom pom.

This is perfection for a baby shower—can you imagine the oohs and aahs you'll get when the expectant mom opens this gift? Off the charts.

Use Universal Uptown DK for this project. It knits up beautifully and is washable, a must for baby wear.

Managing Floats in Stranded Knitting

I wrote this blog because I'm currently working on two colorwork patterns, Hintermost by Bristol Ivy and Mousa by Marie Wallin, and I've been browsing patterns like this for weeks.

On Hintermost, I was knitting the sleeve using the Magic Loop method, and I didn't like how my floats were turning out when I was switching needles. They were too tight! I remembered something about knitting stranded colorwork inside out to even out floats, so I tried it.

This technique worked great. See how even the floats are? And not to worry, you don't have to purl instead of knit! The needles are simply at the back of the work instead of the front, so you're looking at the knit side at the back of the loop as you knit instead of at the front of the work. Try it—so easy, and it makes a huge difference.

I hope you'll cast on one of these patterns and get some color in your life!

Cheers,

P.S. Leave a comment and share your favorite colorwork pattern or knitting tip!