Meet the Freeplay Improvisation Guide:

How many mini skeins and leftovers are lurking in YOUR stash? This improvisation guide is designed to work with any of them! Included are customizable recipes for wraps, scarves, cowls, and shawls as well as stitch ideas and guidance for finding and using gauge to plan your project. Use this guide again and again for a unique result each time.

(Please note that the Freeplay Improvisation Guide is not a true pattern but a recipe that provides guidance on creating your own design using the stitches provided.)

(Psst: You may also be interested in the Freeplay Cowl or the Freeplay Wrap, which are patterns for more complicated shapes using the same basic stitches! You can even save $5.50 and get them together with the Freeplay Collection.)

All the Details:

SIZE 
Finished measurements will depend on yarn and needles chosen, rows worked, etc. Pattern includes gauge-based planning guidance.

YARN 
The recipes will work with different yarn weights, colors, and fiber contents.

NEEDLES 
Select a needle size that allows your chosen yarn to drape when blocked and a cable length that will accommodate all your stitches. For the triangular shawl, 40" [100 cm] or longer circular needles are recommended to accommodate large number of stitches.

NOTIONS 
All recipes require a tapestry needle and an optional removable stitch marker. Additional recipe-specific notion requirements:

  • Cowl: waste yarn, crochet hook in a size similar to your working needles, second pair of needles in the same size as your working needles, additional needle (circular, straight, or DPN) of the same or similar size for three-needle bind-off (you may also use the non-working end of one of the pairs holding the live stitches)

  • Triangular shawl: 1 stitch marker

GAUGE 
Gauge will depend on the yarn and needles you choose. Pattern includes guidance for making and using a gauge swatch.

TECHNIQUES 
All recipes use single increases, single decreases, and yarn overs. Additional recipe-specific techniques:

  • Cowl: provisional cast-on, three-needle bind-off

  • Triangular shawl: garter-tab cast-on

The guide includes links to more information about required stitches and techniques.

Here’s how testers described knitting Freeplay: Easygoing, “fun fun fun," exciting, experimental, quick, colorful, random, relaxing, meditative, simple, flexible, spontaneous, thoughtful, compelling, rewarding, encouraging, creative, addictive, delightful, an “amazing stashbuster," fully customizeable, "incredibly re-knitable,” a great source of inspiration,” a “choose your own adventure,” and "a great opportunity for a beginner to step out from 'behind the patterns.’” As one tester put it: Freeplay "gives you the opportunity to feel like a designer. You can create a thing that no one else has."

Want to knit Freeplay?

Freeplay is available for purchase through Ravelry and Payhip. (If you’re interested in the other Freeplay options, you’ll find the whole collection here.) If you are not using Ravelry at the moment, you can include your Ravelry name with your Payhip order and I will gift you a copy of the pattern on Ravelry. Questions? Please reach out.

 
 
 

P.S. Never miss a pattern! Sign up here for occasional updates, special offers, and (if you want them) testing calls. You can also get access to a free library of pattern extras!