It’s just over a year since we launched our favourite book yet, Strange Brew. It seemed like the perfect time to clamber down, down, down the rabbit hole to see what knitters have made. Of the nearly 3000 Ravelry projects I scanned through, there were a few fun themes. But first and foremost, it seems like Strange Brew has been making some knitters happy!
happy knit face
The thing about finished sweaters? They make the knitters happy!


cute and complex motifs!
When you give knitters the tools to put anything on a sweater yoke, and what happens? They put all sorts of odd, intriguing and adorable things on their sweaters! There were a lot of nerd themed yokes too… you know we love it!
- @jdweinmann did this hilarious baby heads sweater for her friend, cartoonist @lucyknisley, to wear on her book tour!
- PeggyRitch made this wild work of art ‘Viking Knot’ jumper, using Strange Brew for a bit of guidance.
- celaine420 did this unbearably cute porgs sweater! Great eh?!
- Trientje59 did 3 matching sibling fox yokes… and one for mum too!
- gfpowers with a beautiful horse themed yoke!
- laurelswift inspired by the children’t book Iggy Peck Architect
christmas themed Strange Brews
Just a few of the Christmas themed articles inspired by the Strange Brew patterns & recipes… My goodness were there a load of photos of cute kids in front of Christmas trees!
thisismikayla simeze1 @rocha1claudia
- thisismikayla made a super cute mashup using Strange Brew and the motif design from Stronger by Athena Forbes – brilliant!
- @simeze1 made a classic green on red hat!
- @rocha1claudia did a very pretty Compass sweater; this design can read as ‘holiday sweater’ but still look fabulous year round.
- BadWolfGirlKnits with all the vintage Christmas vibes!
all the GRELLOW
There were MANY many knitters who were loving the combination of grey + yellow, also known as grellow! I haven’t actually knit anything grellow… what’s wrong with me?!
The Happy Knitting Podcast @hobby_tricot lgentry5 @spincycleyarns HowBizarre
- The Happy Knitting Podcast made a fascinating and beautiful Strange Brew.
- @hobby_tricot made a very happy pair of coordinating Compass sweaters for her and her partner.
- lgentry5 made a REALLY classy and subtle Strange Brew yoke.
- @spincycle_yarns … your yarn plus our patterns = perfection!
- @frankenknit made a simply delicious yellow, green, and grey Trek.
colour combos I can’t wait to copy!
Most of my best colour combinations? Copied, copied, copied! Read more about how I collect my favourite palettes here! Consider this fair warning colour geniuses! There were SO many inspiring combinations, but here are a few that I thought were top notch!
@kikucorner @esvetiknits @creativekitty made a muted earthy version of Trek. @breiwerken MKSutton @splendorfalls @splendorfalls
- @kikucorner made a Compass sweater that SPARKLES in vivid blue and with lemon yellow.
- @esvetiknits‘s Mountain Mist sweater combines gold, apricot, and soft pink in a palette that knocks my socks off!
- creativekitty made a lovely muted version of Trek.
- @breiwerken boldly combines red, vivid pink and violet in her Almanac sweater – love love love it!
- MKSutton‘s Anthology hat is absolutely berrylicious!
- @splendorfalls made an especially beautiful Strange Brew cardigan.
- @beginswithaC used vivid purple, blue, and greens in her Icefall.
show us more! #tincanknits and #strangebrewsweater
We LOVE to see your knits, comment on your dilemmas, and share your passion. We’re mostly active on Instagram, if you tag us in your post caption using @tincanknits or if you tag us in the photo, it’ll show up for us to see. Or use the hashtag #tincanknits or #strangebrewsweater and we usually see those too!
what will you cast on?
As hat season begins in Edinburgh and Vancouver, our favourite from this collection is the Fleet hat; it’s not too complex and knits up quickly in worsted or aran weight yarn. I desperately want to cast on one for each of my family and friends… but I think I’ve got to do some design work for the next book instead! Darn work getting in the way of my knitting for pure pleasure!
November 3, 2019 @ 12:35 pm
My favorite sweater is the red, pink, and violet one. It looks awesome! What’s your favorite sweater?
October 28, 2019 @ 12:13 am
You are both so talented and that has lead to great inspiration !
Those knots are so creative and beautiful!
If I could knit like that I would be so happy ❤️
October 25, 2019 @ 9:00 am
Awesome! Love all these beautiful sweaters amazing knitters and amazing pattern designers!!!
October 25, 2019 @ 6:40 am
Beautiful
October 25, 2019 @ 5:13 am
Are any of these top down???
Would love to try on a knitting machine.
All gorgeous !!!!
Judy
October 29, 2019 @ 3:13 pm
Hi Judy – Most of these are bottom up, but can easily be done top down instead. You just need to take the charts and work them with the ‘top down’ instructions from Strange Brew, rather than the bottom up.
October 24, 2019 @ 9:51 am
I am blown away by all this sweater beauty! It’s all so inspiring.