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Knitted Bow Tie (Free Stash Busting Knitting Pattern)

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In this post, you will see how to make a quick and easy knitted bow tie.

This knitting pattern is a great stash buster, using up leftovers in your yarn stash.

The stylish bow tie can be made in any kind of yarn.

View the free pattern below or grab the inexpensive PDF in my shop here.

Knitted Bow Tie (Free Stash Busting Knitting Pattern)

Make A Knitted Bow Tie

You all know I love anything tartan, Scottish, or linked to the Outlander TV series, and this tartan bow tie fits right in!

Knit similarly to this Fraser Tartan Scarf Knitting Pattern, the Fraser Tartan Dog Sweater Pattern, and these Tartan Christmas Decorations (Plaid Knitting Pattern).

The tartan effect is created by knitting stripes and then weaving lengths of yarn through the knitted fabric.

Dog sweater and knitted bow tie

The Yarn I Used

You can easily make a knitted bow tie from leftover yarns in your stash.

I used leftovers from Paintbox Chunky yarn in red and green to create a striped knitted rectangle.

Then the green yarn was used to weave the tartan into the knitted fabric – up and over into the garter stitch bumps.

Knitted dog sweater with bow tie
Knitted bow tie and dog sweater

Tartan Bow Tie Knitting Pattern

Grab your inexpensive, ad-free, PDF printable pattern in my shop here.

Notes

Make a knitted tartan bow tie to place onto your dog’s collar.

Make a bow tie in a solid color for a black-tie affair, or experiment with stripes, intarsia, or the tartan.

You can make with yarn scarps in worsted weight yarn and 5 mm needles (US 8) or whatever yarn scraps you have in your stash.

You may also like this Christmas dog sweater knitting pattern.

Copyright Info

  • Please do not copy, sell, redistribute, or republish this pattern. 
  • If you wish to share this pattern, link to the pattern page only.
  • You may sell items produced using this pattern.
  • In all product listings, please credit Handy Little Me (Louise Bollanos) as the designer.
  • Do NOT use the copyrighted photos for your product listing.
  • For the copyright T&C, please read my Terms of Use.
Knitted bow tie red and green chunky yarn

Skill Level – Basic

Gauge – 10 x 10 cm/4 x 4 inches =  16 sts/20 rows in garter stitch.

Measurement/Sizes

Knitted samples laying flat will measure…

  • Large – Length = 8″ / Width = 3″
  • Medium – Length = 6″ / Width = 2.5″
  • Small – Length = 4″ / Width = 2″
Knitted bow tie and knitted dog sweater

The Supplies You Need

Yarn

Yarn – Paintbox Chunky

  • Yarn A – Red
  • Yarn B – Green
  • Chunky/Bulky/12 Ply yarn
  • Scraps in various colors.
  • Around 30g of each color.

Needle Size

Notions

Abbreviations / Knitting Abbreviations And Terms (US And UK) List

  • CO = Cast on
  • Cont = Continue
  • K = Knit
  • Patt = Pattern
  • Rep = Repeat
  • St(s) = Stitch(es)
Christmas knitted bow tie
Jason rocked a sharp look with his bow tie

Pattern Instructions

Time needed: 3 hours and 30 minutes

How To Make A Knitted Bow Tie

  1. Step 1 – Knit A Striped Rectangle

    Yarn A – Red
    Yarn B – Green
    Cast on 20 (22, 24) sts using the long tail method.
    Knit every row (working in garter stitch); you will create a striped rectangle as follows:
    Yarn A – Knit 4 rows.
    Yarn B – Knit 2 rows.
    Yarn A – Knit 2 rows.
    Yarn B – Knit 2 rows.
    Yarn A – Knit 4 rows.
    Yarn B – Knit 2 rows.
    Yarn A – Knit 2 rows.
    Yarn B – Knit 2 rows.
    Yarn A – Knit 4 rows.
    Cast off in yarn A, secure, and weave in the loose end.Tartan bow tie 1

  2. Step 2 – Weave The Plaid

    You will need strands of yarn in your chosen color for the weaving.
    With Yarn B – thread the darning needle and weave the yarn up and under the garter stitch bumps.
    You can see a video tutorial on how to do this here – video tutorial here.
    The image below is from another pattern but it is the same weaving technique you will do on this rectangle.
    The image above shows the bow tie rectangle when the green yarn has been woven through it.
    You can cut each strand or leave the yarn attached to the ball and weave up and into each row without cutting the yarn.
    This will mean fewer ends to weave in.
    weaving the tartan

  3. Step 3 – Knit The Middle Section

    In Yarn A cast on 4 (5,6) sts
    Knit in garter stitch for 20 rows.
    Cast off and leave a length of yarn for seaming.Tartan bow tie 2

  4. Step 4 – Cinch The Rectangle

    Cinch the rectangle in the middle and place the middle section around it to meet edge-to-edge at the back of the work.Knitted bow tie 6

  5. Step 5 – Seam The Middle Section

    Seam the middle section at the back of the work securely with a running stitch, but leave a little room so that the dog’s collar can slide through it. Knitted bow tie 7

  6. Step 6 – Weave In Any Loose Ends

    Weave in any loose ends and trim where necessary.
    The bow tie should be ready to wear!
    You can slide the dog’s collar through the loop at the back created by the middle section.
    This is easy to place on and off the dog’s collar. Knitted bow tie 8

Share your work with us…

l Iove seeing your finished projects on social media.

If you enjoyed making the bow tie, I’d love to see yours on Instagram, be sure to tag me @handylittleme.

If you are on Facebook, stop over to the handylittleme Facebook group and share a photo.

You can also find me on Ravelry.

I’d love to see your work.

Happy Knitting!

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2 Comments

  1. Thanks. I’ve been struggling for a few months trying to teach myself how to knit. I finally decided to find a small project to do so I can have that feeling of accomplishment instead of frustration. This is officially the first thing I have ever correctly knitted.

    1. Hello Kris,
      That’s awesome!
      I’m so happy you stuck with it and saw something finished.
      I know that can be hard when you are starting out with knitting.
      I hope you will choose more projects now to keep going.
      Happy knitting!
      Louise