You need some green bling for St Patrick’s day! And obviously that green bling needs to be of the knitted variety. This little smiling Shamrock pin is the perfect solution! How cute is he going to look on your jacket or sweater on St Patrick’s day? Adorable. And the best part is he is such a quick little knit you can make one for all of your friends and family! We don’t want any unnecessary pinching injuries this holiday, now do we? No, we need to play things safe, go get knitting!

This pattern was written by Rebecca Danger for Wicked Chickens Yarn. Rebecca is a prolific knitting pattern designer and author with more than 150 published designs. She is known for her whimsical monster and creature patterns, making her the perfect fit to design a Wickedly Lucky Shamrock for us!

More Info:

Skill Level: Intermediate as determined by the Craft Yarn Council. We would recommend this pattern for beginning knitters that are comfortable knitting in the round or who want a bit of a challenge. We have rated it “intermediate” because according to the Craft Council skill level guidelines, anything knitted in the round is intermediate.

Skills used: Basic knit and purl stitches, increases, decreases, knitting in the round, picking up stitches, holding live stitches and coming back to them later, and basic sewing skills.

This pattern is written using Magic Loop Method for knitting in the round. See Rebecca’s Frequent Questions page for more info on dpn’s vs Magic Loop: http://rebeccadanger.typepad.com/rebecca_danger/frequent-…

Yarn:
25-50 yards of green yarn
Scrap black and pink yarn for face embroidery
The heavier the yarn weight, the more yardage needed.

This pattern is written round by round so that you can use any weight yarn you want to create all sorts of sizes of shamrock friends. Try sock yarn for a perfect pin sized shamrock, or bulky for a gift-able St Patty’s Day friend!

Gauge: You pick! Simply knit with your choice of yarn on needles 2-3 sizes smaller than called for to get a tight knit fabric your stuffing wont show through.

Needles: 40” circular needle (for Magic Loop Method) in a size about 2 smaller than those recommended for your yarn (example: yarn says US size 8, use a size 6, or even 5 instead). If you are knitting your shamrock in sock weight yarn like the small sample in this pattern, you should have similar results to the sample using a US size 1 or US size 2 needle, depending on how tight or loose a knitter you are.

Notions: Scissors, tapestry needle, waste yarn in a color different than your working yarn, beginning of the round stitch marker (removable or closed) and optional row counter. You will also need a set of safety eyes or other eye choice such as buttons or black yarn for embroidery, a small pin back around 3/4” in length, and a needle and thread for attaching the pin back.

Your finished size will depend on what weight yarn you use. If you are knitting this pattern in sock weight yarn as shown with the small sample, your finished pin friend will come out about 3.5” tall and you will need 9mm safety eyes. The worsted sample is 5” tall with 12mm eyes. Increasing the weight of yarn, or even holding yarn double and working the pattern on larger needles will create a larger finished friend.

This 3 page pattern is very clearly written, and Rebecca offers many tutorials on the techniques used in it on her blog to keep you from feeling confused while knitting: www.rebeccadanger.typepad.com. She also has a Frequent Questions page for instant pattern help: http://rebeccadanger.typepad.com/rebecca_danger/frequent-….

This pattern is copyright Wicked Chickens Yarn. If you would like to sell finished items using these instructions, we are OK with that as long as you let your customers know the pattern used is from Wicked Chickens Yarn.

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