What’s New at In the Loop Knitting Patterns for August 15, 2022
Summer is winding down, and there is no better time to curl up with your favorite yarn and needles and start planning your fall knitting projects. Here at In the Loop Knitting Patterns, we have been busy behind the scenes adding fresh designs, updating our most beloved patterns, and curating collections that are going to make your autumn crafting season absolutely spectacular. Whether you are a beginner just learning to cast on or an experienced knitter tackling complex colorwork and lace, this week’s update has something exciting waiting for you. Let’s dive into everything that is new and noteworthy this week.
New Pattern Releases You Won’t Want to Miss
We are thrilled to announce the release of several brand-new patterns that have been in development for months. Our design team has been working closely with talented independent designers to bring you pieces that are not only beautiful but also practical and wearable for the upcoming season.
The Harvest Moon Pullover is hands-down the star of this week’s release lineup. This cozy, relaxed-fit sweater features a stunning textured body made up of elongated stitches that create a subtle woven effect without requiring you to pick up a second tool. The yoke is worked seamlessly in the round, and the entire construction is designed to minimize seaming so you spend more time enjoying the knitting and less time finishing. The pattern is written for sizes XS through 5XL, with full schematic measurements provided, making it one of our most size-inclusive designs to date. It calls for a worsted-weight single or plied yarn, and we have included a full materials list with yardage estimates broken down by size so there are no unpleasant surprises at the yarn store.
The Birchwood Cowl is a perfect quick-knit companion for anyone who wants a satisfying project they can finish in a single weekend. This generously sized infinity cowl uses a simple but striking combination of seed stitch borders and a traveling cable center panel that looks far more complicated than it actually is. The pattern includes both written instructions and a cable chart, so knitters who prefer either format are fully covered. It is sized for one circumference but includes notes on how to adjust the length to suit your preference. This would make a gorgeous gift for the holidays, and at the pace most knitters work through it, you could easily make several between now and December.
The Ferndale Fingerless Mitts round out this week’s new arrivals. Designed with commuters, coffee drinkers, and anyone who works at a keyboard in mind, these mitts keep your palms and wrists warm while leaving your fingers free for all the activities that require dexterity. The pattern features a gentle slip-stitch colorwork panel along the back of the hand that uses only two colors per row and is worked entirely in the round. No floats to manage, no long spans of yarn to worry about — just a clean, modern look that belies how approachable the construction really is. The pattern comes in three sizes and includes a detailed tutorial for the applied i-cord cast-on that finishes the cuffs so beautifully.
Pattern Updates and Corrections
We take great pride in the accuracy of our patterns, and we are always grateful when members of the In the Loop community flag potential issues. This week, we have published corrections and clarifications for three existing patterns.
The Stonecroft Cardigan, first published in the spring of 2021, has received a correction to the sleeve cap shaping for sizes L and XL. A transposed number in the original decrease row instructions was causing a slight asymmetry that some knitters noticed when seaming. The corrected instructions are now live in your pattern library if you purchased this design — just log in and re-download your file to get the updated version. If you have already knitted past that section and your sleeves look great, there is no cause for concern. The original error was subtle enough that many knitters compensated for it intuitively during blocking.
The Millpond Lace Shawl has received a full chart update. We heard from several knitters that one of the lace repeat charts had a symbol that was ambiguous between a yarn-over and a slip stitch depending on which screen or printer was used. The updated chart uses a more universally distinct symbol set and also includes a written row-by-row translation of all three lace panels for knitters who prefer to work from text rather than symbols. This was a highly requested addition, and we are happy to have finally incorporated it.
The Cobblestone Hat pattern now includes a note about gauge and yarn substitutions. A number of knitters had questions about why their hats were coming out larger than expected when using certain popular bulky yarns, and we realized the pattern needed a clearer explanation of how the dense stitch pattern affects gauge relative to the yarn label’s recommended needle size. The new note recommends swatching with needles one to two sizes smaller than the yarn label suggests and explains why that tends to produce a fabric that holds its shape better over time.
Behind the Scenes: A Chat with Designer Mara Ashford
This week we sat down with Mara Ashford, the designer behind some of our most popular patterns including the perennial favorite Heathermoor Wrap and the brand-new Harvest Moon Pullover. Mara is based in the Pacific Northwest and draws heavy inspiration from the textures and colors of the forest and coastline near her home.
We asked Mara what drew her to the elongated stitch technique she used in the Harvest Moon Pullover, and her answer was characteristically thoughtful. She explained that she had been studying weaving for a year before returning to knitting design, and that experience changed how she looked at fabric structure entirely. She wanted to create a knitted fabric that had the visual weight and drape of a loosely woven textile, something that felt substantial without being stiff or heavy. The elongated stitch, worked on a slightly larger needle than the yarn technically called for, was the solution she arrived at after several swatches that she describes as being decidedly less successful.
Mara also shared that she always knits her sample garments twice — once for the photography sample and once to wear and wash repeatedly before she considers the pattern finalized. This practice, she says, has saved her from publishing instructions for garments that photograph beautifully but pill aggressively or lose their shape after a few wears. It is the kind of commitment to quality that makes working with independent designers so rewarding, and it shows in the longevity of her patterns in our library.
Look for a full designer spotlight feature on Mara in our newsletter later this month, where she will be sharing more about her process, her current yarn obsessions, and the three patterns she is currently developing for a winter release.
Community Knit-Along: The September Shawl Sprint
We are gearing up for our most popular annual event: the September Shawl Sprint, a community knit-along that kicks off on September 1st and runs through the end of the month. Every year, hundreds of In the Loop knitters come together to work through a shawl project of their choosing, sharing progress photos, troubleshooting tips, and encouragement in our dedicated community forum.
This year, we are adding a new element to the Sprint. In addition to the open-choice format where everyone knits whatever shawl calls to them, we will be offering a featured pattern option — a shawl designed specifically for the event that will be released for free to all registered participants. We are keeping the details under wraps for now, but we can say that it involves a technique that many knitters have been curious about but perhaps slightly intimidated by, and that the pattern has been written with that intimidation in mind. Detailed tutorials and video walkthroughs will be available from day one.
Registration for the September Shawl Sprint opens on August 20th. Keep an eye on your inbox if you are subscribed to the newsletter, as registered members will get early access to the featured pattern and an exclusive discount on a curated bundle of shawl patterns from our library.
Yarn Spotlight: What We Are Loving Right Now
No knitting news roundup would be complete without talking about yarn, and this week we have a few fiber finds worth mentioning.
The knitting world has been buzzing about plant-based and blended yarns lately, and we have been doing our own exploration in that department. We recently worked with a small-batch yarn producer whose linen-cotton-nylon blend has become an obsession in the In the Loop studio. It has the cool, slightly crisp hand of linen without that initial stiffness that puts some knitters off, the softness of a cotton blend, and just enough nylon to give it resilience. It is particularly well-suited to warmer-weather accessories and the kind of layering pieces that transition beautifully from late summer into early fall.
We are also seeing a resurgence of interest in undyed and naturally dyed yarns among our community members. There is something deeply satisfying about working with a fiber whose color comes entirely from plants or minerals, and the resulting palette — all warm taupes, soft rusts, dusty greens, and heathered naturals — is perfectly on-trend for the season ahead. If you have never tried a naturally dyed yarn, the fall is a wonderful time to start, since the colorways tend to mirror exactly what is happening outside your window.
For those of you working on the Birchwood Cowl or the Ferndale Fingerless Mitts, we have added yarn suggestions directly to the pattern pages on the site, with notes on the specific qualities to look for and what to avoid when substituting. These notes are drawn from our own test knitting and from feedback gathered during the technical editing process.
Tips and Techniques: Getting the Most Out of Your Gauge Swatch
We know, we know — everyone says to swatch and not everyone does it. But this week, in honor of some of the gauge-related questions we have been fielding in the community forum, we want to offer a few thoughts that might make swatching feel less like a chore and more like a genuinely useful part of your process.
First, the case for the larger swatch. Most patterns ask for a four-inch square swatch, which translates to roughly a six-inch square of knitting that you then measure the center four inches of. The logic is sound, but we have found that for garments especially, a larger swatch — something closer to eight inches square — gives you significantly more data. You can test how your tension changes as you settle into a rhythm, and you get a better sense of how the fabric will behave across a larger expanse.
Second, block your swatch the way you intend to block your finished object. This seems obvious, but it is easy to skip. A swatch washed and laid flat to dry will behave very differently from one simply pressed with a steam iron, and both of those will behave differently from a swatch pinned out aggressively. The fabric you end up with after blocking is the fabric that needs to match the pattern’s gauge, not the fabric you have fresh off the needles.
Third, give your swatch a day before measuring. Yarn relaxes after blocking, sometimes significantly. What measures exactly four inches right after the pins come out may measure four and a quarter inches the next morning. That difference, extrapolated across the width of a sweater, is the difference between a garment that fits and one that is an inch or two too wide.
We will be doing a full deep-dive on swatching in our technique series next month, including a look at how to swatch for colorwork patterns where multiple yarns and tension habits are in play.
Looking Ahead: What’s Coming in September
Before we wrap up this week’s update, we want to give you a little preview of what is on the horizon for September, because there is a lot to be excited about.
We are planning a full fall collection launch in mid-September that will include twelve new patterns across a range of categories: sweaters, accessories, home goods, and at least two patterns designed specifically for knitters who are still building their skills and want to try techniques like short rows or simple colorwork for the first time in a supportive, well-explained context.
We are also launching a new section of the site dedicated to pattern bundles, where you can purchase a curated set of complementary designs at a reduced price. The first bundle will be a cozy home collection featuring throws, pillow covers, and a stunning basketweave rug pattern that our team has been using as a demo piece at every knitting event we have attended this summer. The response has been overwhelming, and we cannot wait to share it properly.
Finally, we are adding a redesigned search and filter system to the pattern library. If you have ever wished you could search by construction method, yarn weight, or technique rather than just by category, your wish is about to be granted. We have been working on this update for most of the year, and it is very nearly ready for prime time.
As always, thank you for being part of the In the Loop community. This space exists because of the knitters who show up with their questions, their finished objects, their enthusiasm for learning, and their willingness to share what they know with everyone around them. We will see you in the forums, in the knit-along threads, and right back here next week with more of what’s new and what’s coming up. Happy knitting.
