Wondering how to use our collection of Base Doodle Patterns with all of your Doodle Charts? Our Base Doodle Patterns are the 1st step in the Doodle Framework: 4 easy steps to Doodle with yarn:

1: CHOOSE YOUR PATTERN

Cowls, Hats, Socks, & more! Charts work on any Base Doodle pattern!

2: CHOOSE YOUR CHARTS

Pick a theme or grab a few Doodles to mix-and-match!

3: CHOOSE YOUR YARN

Grab a main color and a few accents or create the perfect stash buster!

4: START KNITTING!

Choose your first motif and colors and simply start knitting!

HOW TO USE BASE DOODLE PATTERNS

Your Base Doodle Pattern is the blank canvas of your design. With these simple patterns, you can create exactly what you want, whether it's a completely colorful scarf, and simple mitten with just a little colorwork flair, a color-blocked cowl, or a custom pair of socks for your friend!

Follow the steps below to learn how to use Base Doodle Patterns to create your custom project: 

»» Choose your Pattern Shape

»» Choose your Modifications (optional)

»» Choose Simple -vs- Colorwork

»» Get Creative

»» Knit!

It's that easy! Do a deep dive into each step below + get find all our free resources and tutorials to help you along the way. 

Choose your Pattern Shape

To get started on your Doodle, pick any one of our Base Doodle Patterns as a foundation on which to build your project. You can use one of our FREE Base Doodle Patterns (infinity cowl, standard cowl, hat, or socks) or any shape from our Base Pattern Collection. 

Every Base Pattern comes with instructions, as well as tips & tricks on how to modify the pattern and where to incorporate colorwork. The best part about a 'simple' shape is that it is easy to customize to make your project uniquely you! Look at some of the options below:

• Doodle Cowls: A Standard Cowl is a great place to start, because cowls don’t require any shaping, increasing, or decreasing - simply cast on and start knitting! Want to learn a new skill? Try an infinity or reversible cowl to practice provisional cast-on and grafting!

• Doodle Hats: Ready to go to the next level? Add a little crown decrease! Our Base Doodle Hat patterns come with flexible brim options and two different crown decreases. Plus, hats make great gift projects because they are quick, fun, and portable!

• Doodle Socks: The next colorwork level – socks! Time to add some heel work and wedge toe decreases. Not as scary as it sounds, I promise! These socks make a great canvas to plug and play ANY Doodle theme!

• Other shapes: we also have scarves, mittens, headbands, fingerless mitts, a cup cozy, and more being written all the time!

Want more Base Patterns? Subscribe to our newsletter to find out when new patterns are released, or use our suggestion box to let us know what you want to see next!

Choose any Modifications you want

All of our Base Doodle Patterns come with a whole page of modification options! Here is a quick list of the types to things you might want to adjust to suit your preferences:

• Cast-on number (often the finished circumference of your pattern)
• Height or length (in a cowl, hat, or sock, for example)
• Ribbing options (1x1, 2x2, twisted, corrugated, etc.)
• Brim, crown, heel, or toe techniques
• Think outside the box with your yarn choices with our guidance on how to modify your project for a different Yarn Weight & Gauge!

Don't see your desired modification here? Don't worry - you can also make your own! Part of the creativity in designing your own pattern to knit is that YOU get to decide what you want to make. Most ribbing can be substituted with pretty much any other ribbing. Lot of increase styles can be substituted with other increase styles. How you make it is entirely up to you!

Don't be afraid to try something new. The worst that could happen is that you frog a bit of your project - but you also got to learn something!

Choose plain -vs- colorwork

While all of our Base Doodle Patterns work with all of our Doodle Charts, the Base Patterns are also excellent wardrobe (and pattern library) staples all on their own - even without colorwork!

They're also a great way to learn new knitting skills. The our patterns include links to all our tutorials for relevant techniques, and even include guidance on how to modify the pattern! So if you want to knit your first sock, or learn how to modify a cowl pattern, these are a really excellent resource to get you started on building that skill set!

Of course, if you want to add colorwork - keep reading this post or check out all our other posts that are All About Doodles. 

Start getting creative with your design

Pick a theme (or two)

Maybe you need a hat to wear to a sports game (yes, we have a Sports Doodle), or maybe you want to make some whimsical socks for your dog-obsessed friend (yes, we also have a Dogs Doodle). Maybe you just want to keep it simple and timeless (the geometric Basic Doodle is great for that!).

Because all of our Doodle Charts work with all of our Base Patterns, the options are literally endless for what you can create!

Doodle Mash-Up? Yes please! We love to see creative uses of more than one theme in a single project, so don't be afraid to pair Dino with Jungle (great prehistoric plants) or Baking and London (any Great British Baking Show fans?)! 

& make it your own!

With Doodles, there is no right or wrong way to design your pattern, so just have fun with it! Learn all the tips on How to Choose & Arrange your Doodle Charts to make your custom design come to life! Then once you know the basic guidelines, you can decide which ones to follow (+ which ones to break). 

If you want all the resources for getting super creative with designing your custom project, check out some of these links:

Download a FREE Base Doodle Coloring Page and start drawing out your design directly onto a line drawing of your Base Pattern shape!

Stamp your name on it (literally) with our FREE Doodle Letter Charts, including tips on how to lay out names, words and phrases in your colorwork!

Organize your motifs on our FREE Blank Doodle Master Chart so you can see how things will work together - bonus, you can knit directly from this chart too!

Draw your own charts with our FREE Draw-It-Yourself Blank Doodle Mini Chart templates, already formatted and sized to work with your Base Pattern!

Feeling too free and want more precision? Take a look at our Doodle Math: Row Gauge & Chart Height post for tips about calculating row counts and estimating how much space a chart will take up. You can also swatch your ideas to make sure it will end up exactly how you want it to!

KNIT!

Congratulations! You have now designed your very own Doodle project! All that's left is to cast-on and get knitting!

And remember, there's nothing wrong with a little trial and error, so don't be afraid to frog and re-start if the project isn't turning out the way you envisioned. Experimentation is part of the fun :)

Happy Doodling!

 

Blog co-written by Jamie Lomax and Grey Lundy