free skull knitting pattern

I was floundering about, wondering what it would take to get my husband to actually wear one of my sweaters.

the Skull click picture to launch

I was being sarcastic about it to a friend and said, Yeah, maybe if I put a skull on it, then he would wear it. Well, the next thing you know, I am asking for Ethan's help plotting out a skull grid for the project.

So my man whipped out his PC, cranked a clip-art skull through it and this is what came out on the other side.

Just as he finished up the graph, March 2001, I got the news that my Grandma Hall had died. It was in grief that I started the knitting. I used recycled charcoal worsted weight wool I had gotten in Germany while we were living there, mixed in with some Bone colored Montera. I was finishing it up 2 months later, when my Grandma Stafford died.

Skull Skates click picture to launch

Somewhere in between the funerals, I took a business trip to New Jersey and found myself knitting this sweater on the plane with a copy of Already Dead by Denis Johnson in my bag for a little light reading. This paralyzed the passenger beside me into silence for the entire flight. Aaaw, yeah ... just the way I like it.



Here are some photos and links to projects others have made from my skull chart. Be sure to scroll down if the skull doesn't jump right out at you once you link out.

the Big Bad Wolf pullover with Skull

Michelle (who has some awfully cool needlepoint charts for sale here) made this pullover for her sexy husband using the Big Bad Wolf pattern found in the DomiKNITrix book . This skull is grand due to the bulky gauge of the yarn. The same skull knit onto the men's vest as shown in the book appears smaller in worsted weight yarn. This turned out very similar to Voltaire's skull sweater. Excellent work!

Karen's Double Scoop with skull

Karen used Knitty's Double Scoop for this pirate pullover. Karen had the best intentions, starting this pullover for the smaller of her lucky kids. But yarn substitution led to gauge mishap and the end result turned out a bit large. That means Karen is the lucky owner of a new pullover! Her lemur-esque acrobatics really caught my eye.

Tia made this very big-boy skull AND crossbones afghan for her lucky nephew. Get her crossbones chart here! Make your own charts at Micorevolt!

skull pullover by Mary

Here's a subtle execution of the skull in texture rather than color.

For those looking for a lighter way to make their mark - classy and very wearable.

Mary knit this for a lucky nephew. Husband Bill was a willing model for this photo shoot.

Mary tells me she didn't work the chart stitch for stitch, but that makes it no less fabulous!

Brainy lady was the first.

Then came Gidget, who interpreted it in texture rather than color.

Angela chose duplicate stitch to render the skull (a technique you'll see used on another cool chart in my book). The upside of dupe stitch is that you can still knit your sweater in the round and add the chart as an afterthought. In fact, you could buy any sweater and punk it up with the skull. Isn't her husband a badass? (scroll down after clicking link).

Ragnar put the skull on the back of a sweater in bright colors. Without its lower teeth, her skull smiles.

Anna used the Bad Penny as her canvas and added the skull in later using duplicate stitch. Her duplicate technique is absolutely flawless.

Lisa's skull afghan

Lisa crocheted this sweet afghan (left) with mega skull. To make your own, use the skull chart as the pattern and add some extra black squares around the edges so that the skull does not fill the whole afghan space. Look closely at this photo and compare it to the chart. Notice that the first white square on chart (chin) and on afghan, there are 4 double crochet stitches making that single square. So swatch to confirm that 4 double (or treble) crochet stitches makes a square slightly wider than tall. Then it's a simple matter to work the chart up into an afghan! Just crochet 4 stitches for each square and change colors as dictated by the chart and your gauge. Easy peasy

If you have made a project with my skull chart, please e-mail me a link to the blog page where you are showcasing it, or send a digital photo of the best possible quality and I will add it here. In your email, be sure to state that I have your permission to use it here on my site, otherwise I can't and won't post it.

I give the skull freely to those who wish to make items for themselves or others. If you want the skull for commercial reproduction, please contact me to discuss licensing my intellectual property. See email link at bottom of page.

I've been giving away the skull chart for a couple of years now. Many have said it's the best skull chart for knitting on the web. But the problem of hotlinks (and I don't mean spicy sausages!) causes me to change the filename frequently to shake loose the hot linkers. There is a right and a wrong way to link to an image on someone else's site; if you care to learn the RIGHT WAY, please get more info here. It's not at all difficult to do and it's free. Save the image and upload that, not the URL. Uploading a URL (a URL is http://etc ...) that isn't yours is bandwidth theft. When you are using someone else's images, and they change the filname on you, you may find a very different and possibly embarrassing image appearing on your own blog one day and it will be your own fault.

People who hotlink got the snazzy result of my big skull grid appearing live on their page. The downside of this for me is that it means people are using up bandwidth that I pay for without ever visiting my site. Heck, if you want some really, really cool goth skull and bones images, please visit this site about Kutna Hora, an ossuary in the Czech Republic I visited when I was living there in 1993. Be sure to explore all the links for skulls and bones galore. Please don't hotlink to them either. Be a good net citizen.

Skulls Elswhere (more to come - please send links)

Here is a collection of skull knitting patterns and designs found on other blogs

We Call Them Pirates hat and mitts at Hello Yarn. Because this chart uses so few stitches, you can use it to add a tiny skull to anything.

And She Knits Too - cute double knitted scarf with repeating skull and crossbones design. Chart could easily be applied to another pattern.

Knitty's Yorick - clever use of negative space.

Glampyre skull bag - felting is fun, chart.

Ysolda's Illusion SKull - chart included.

Magknits Skull wristwarmers - quick and easy, chart.

Skull and crossbones lace - let your gauge be your guide.

Skull stockings from Severina - be sure to check out her other cool stuff!



