Colorful patterns are one of our favorite ways to brighten up winter knitting. Winter’s dark, short days and bitterly cold weather demand bright, happy knits to inject a little warmth and color into our lives. It’s been a few years since we shared a list of our favorite Colorful Patterns to Brighten Winter Knitting and we didn’t get to share all of our favorites the first time around. So, we’re back! We hope you’ll enjoy our next installment of colorful patterns for happy winter knitting!

The Rose Frost Sweater

We have to include the focus of our current knit along on our list! Knitters just cast on the Rose Frost Sweater, a free pattern from Sophie Minakais. The Rose Frost Sweater uses four colors of Lamb’s Pride or Lanaloft in a beautiful, beginner-friendly colorwork design. We’re having so much fun seeing the colors knitters have shared to the Brown Sheep Company Crafters group on Facebook. It’s not too late to join in the fun! The knit along runs until the beginning of March, when we’ll choose two knitters to win $50 gift certificates to BrownSheep.com. Learn more here.

Sunflower Hat & Mittens

New this year and free for a limited time, the Sunflower Hat and Mittens feature two colors of Nature Spun Worsted. An easy introduction to colorwork, knitters work with just one color at a time, slipping the twisted design stitches for the resting color. These twisted stitches form the sunflower leaves, and one-color garter in the hat crown and mitten tops forms the center of the sunflower.

On the Farm Cowl

Tanis Gray’s delightful On the Farm Cowl uses Prairie Spun DK in two colors and features rows of grazing colorwork sheep. The design only uses one skein of each color, but we’d love to see variations on this theme. We think it would be perfect for half skeins of Prairie Spun DK to make the alternating rows of sheep in different colors!

Naniboujou Socks

The Naniboujou Socks are not a new pattern, but they deserve some attention. The socks feature three colors of Wildfoote and are less complex than they appear. A two-stitch repeat means there are no long floats at the back of the work, and the marriage of knits and purls makes a nice, dense fabric—perfect for winter. This is another colorful pattern that would be fun for knitting with scraps!

Share a Cup Mittens

New to colorwork patterns? Try the Share a Cup Mittens in Lamb’s Pride Worsted. The colorwork is simple and small, relegated to just the cuffs, offering a great opportunity to practice your tension. The pattern also features an afterthought thumb, a fun and nifty technique to try if you haven’t done it before!

Mediterranean Hat

The Mediterranean Hat uses two colors of Nature Spun in a diamond motif colorwork pattern. The real showstopper of this hat is the top, where the diamonds meet to form the petals of a beautiful geometric flower. The hat uses a half skein per color, so this is another potential stash buster project!

Adventure Mitts

The Adventure Mitts feature both Lanaloft and Lanaloft Hand Painted, the latter of which lends so much visual interest to the cuffs and colorwork arrow motif. You’ll only need a skein of each to complete one pair of mitts. These fingerless mitts can also be felted for added warmth!

Merriam Shawl

Log cabin colorwork patterns are incredibly satisfying to knit, building color on color with each successive turn of the block. The Merriam Shawl uses a log cabin motif performed with 4 colors of Lanaloft Sport (1 color each). This is another design that could result in something unique with a little stash dive!

Steve Miter Blanket

Mary Bird’s Steve Miter Blanket is an enthusiastic invitation to grab all of your Nature Spun, Lamb’s Pride, and Lanaloft (all in worsted) and design your own colorful miter blanket. The modular design builds color on color with single garter stitch rows and blocks. It’s very easy and fun to make this your own!

Do you have a favorite colorwork pattern to brighten your winter knitting? Join us on Brown Sheep Company Crafters and let us know!

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