Wild and Free Wall Hanging

I'm not entirely sure where I got the idea for this wall hanging. I had the phrase "wild and free" stuck in my head for a while, and then I decided I should put it on a wall hanging. I also knew exactly who I wanted to give it to. I have a friend from college who is the human form of this phrase. She's not afriad to take that leap of faith and go after her dreams. She marches to the beat of her own drum no matter what anyone else says. And of course, she thrives in nature. 

I wanted to make the wall hanging more special than just having the words on there, so I got a little ambitious. At first I was thinking to have one flower on there, but then I thought the flower came out so cute I needed more. I also felt ambitious trying to put a bee on it, but I felt that's what this wallhanging was missing and needed.

I spent a lot of time on excel trying to work out the designs of the flowers and the bee. I finally got it as good as I was going to get it, and I hoped the design translated well to the knitted wallhanging. I'm going to pat myself on the back a little - I think it translated well! The Wild and Free Wall Hanging is easily one of my top five favorite things I've knitted! It came out so much better than I could have hoped!

I don't use very expensive yarn for wallhangings as cheap, acrylic yarn actually seems to work best for them. They tend to be very rigid and rough, which actually works well for wallhangings in my opinion. I mostly used yarn from my stash, so I will do my best to remember the brands. In general, I have found that Red Heart Super Saver yarn works best for wall hangings, especially for the background color in order to help keep its shape.

PATTERN

Materials

Size US 7/4.0 mm straight needles
(2) stitch markers
Darning Needle
Scissors
(1) dowel rod of no more than 1/8 inch in thickness
Optional: pom-pom maker
Optional: hot glue gun

Yarn (all worsted weight yarns)
Background Color: 57 yds (Red Heart Super Saver in Soft White)
Color 1: 36 yds (Red Heart Super Saver in Black)
Color 2: 55 yds (Loops and Threads in Gold??????)
Color 3: 51 yds (Green, unsure of the brand)

*Please note that amount of yarn used may vary depending on if you choose to use duplicate stictch or do the colorwork as you go. Additionally, it may vary depending on how you do your pom poms. I used an average of 6 yds per pom pom.

Definitions

Selvedge: always slip the first stitch purlwise with the yarn held in the back; always purl the last stitch

Pattern

Cast on 3 stitches in background color. Place stitch markers in between each stitch.

*Note: If you wish to use duplicate stitch, continue patter in background color. If you wish to add the colors all at once, please keep the following instructions in mind while following the chart below for the colorwork.

On every odd row, yarn over to increase immediately after slipping the first stitch marker and immediately before slipping the last stich marker. Continue until you have 37 stitches. Once you have 37 stitches selvedge the end stitches of each row.

Every odd row: knit all

Every even row: purl all

Follow this pattern until you have 78 rows. 

Slip stitches onto a dowel rod.

Follow the chart below and use duplicate stitch to add the pattern. In the alternative, knit the color work as you go.

	Background Color
C	Color 1
	Color 2
	Color 3
V	Selvedge Sticch

37	37	35	34	33	32	31	30	29	28	27	26	25	24	23	22	21	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
V																																				V	78
V																																				V	77
V																																				V	76
V																																				V	75
V																																				V	74
V																																				V	73
V																																				V	72
V																																				V	71
V																																				V	70
V																																				V	69
V																																				V	68
V																																				V	67
V																																				V	66
V																																				V	65
V																																				V	64
V																																				V	63
V																																				V	62
V																																				V	61
V																																				V	60
V																																				V	59
V																																				V	58
V																																				V	57
V																																				V	56
V																																				V	55
V																																				V	54
V																																				V	53
V																																				V	52
V																																				V	51
V																																				V	50
V																																				V	49
V																																				V	48
V																																				V	47
V																																				V	46
V																																				V	45
V																																				V	44
V																																				V	43
V																																				V	42
V																																				V	41
V																																				V	40
V																																				V	39
V																																				V	38
V																																				V	37
V																																				V	36
V																																				V	35
V																																				V	34
																																					33
																																					32
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																																					6
																																					5
																																					4
																																					3
																																					2
																																					1
																																					CO

Finishing

Add pom poms around the edge. These are optional, but I find they help the wall hangning stay flat while adding come extra cuteness.

I did my pom poms in the following pattern down the edge from top to bottom: gold, green, gold, green, black, green, gold, green, gold, and black at the bottom tip. This was identical on both sides of the wallhanging.

Instead of weaving in all of the ends, I knotted some of them together and hot glued them to the back. This helped give it more stability. I also didn't want to risk messing up the color work in weaving in ends.

I'd love to see pictures of your completed wall hangings! Feel free to post them to instagram using #wildandfreewallhanging and tag me (@knitting_with_sara).

Happy knitting!