Beautiful Memories
It was my late grandma who taught me how to knit, and another thing she loved to do was to have a walk around our local reservoir to see the swans. Such happy memories and therefore I’ve always said I’ll knit a swan at some point. With such elegance and beauty, putting swans into knitted form was always going to be a bit of a challenge but one I tried to embrace…
The Black-Necked Swan
With Mothers’ Day approaching I decided that for my first swan I would try to do a knitted black-necked swan. To be honest I had never heard of this type of swan until six months ago and no, I didn’t run out of white wool! My mum saw these beautiful creatures on her trip to South America and I thought this would be a nice gift for her and would give her a lasting memory.
This is indeed one of the curiosities of nature, with a long black neck, bright red of the beak and pink legs. I have designed the swan knitting pattern to work as close to the natural shapes and features as possible. Although it may appear a bit funny-looking, using the pictures alongside helps to keep things in line with the real thing. Depending on your location, you may wish to knit using the colours of your own local breed. The costocoroba swan (below) is the smallest of the swan species, (and no it’s honestly not a goose!) and with a plain red beak, it is simpler to make. There are whooper swans and black swans also, if you wish for something different.
The Mute Swan
In keeping with my local area, the above is our traditional, beautiful mute swan. After completing the black-necked swan I made some adjustments to the pattern to make it more in keeping with this breed. I also decided to give myself a bit of an extra challenge and thought I’d have a go at some wings too. A bit more trial and error was involved as I ended up doing three types of wings. I first opted for the slimmed-down, wing-against-the-body version, but then thought that this was probably not worth the extra time and effort given it’s pretty similar to without the wings. So I then went for version 2 adding a bit more extravagance to make more beautiful gliding swan with wings open. This had the feathery feature with the ribbed pattern. Version 3 was done as it looked more simple and cut off a bit more time. I’ve included all three options on the swan knitting pattern to give people the choice.
Swan Patterns & Breeds
Colours required for your knitted swan will depend on your breed of choice. There are some slight pattern differences if you wish to stick as close as possible to the real thing and I have shown these in the pattern also. The mute and black-necked swans have what they call a ‘basal knob’ (posh name for the lump above its beak). These therefore take a little extra time. Alternatively, choose to do a generic swan (with a bit of artistic licence), particularly if knitting for a child who may not be fussed if it is not anatomically correct (and it also makes things a little quicker).
Fairytales
This knitted swan would make a nice knitted wedding gift but if made securely, it can also be great knitted children’s gift with a nice long neck to cling on to and drag around. You may wish to consider the same knitting pattern to make a knitted cygnet, using grey yarn instead of white, and black for the beak. As well as being a more practical colour for children, it also then becomes the knitted ugly duckling from the fairytale. Great accompaniment when reading this classic bedtime story! And black or grey is certainly more forgiving when being dragged around by the neck with grubby hands.
Blast from the Past!
I recall at the age of 15 I did an ‘Expressive Arts’ project, and this was my first ever made up knitting pattern. A trip into the loft and I have rediscovered this long-lost treasure! Swans were my chosen theme even back then, and I was supposed to be experimenting with many different materials. Wool and knitting was one method I chose, and looking back, I feel quite proud of my achievement, even though it turned out to only be a head. Several years later, I’m giving it another attempt and seeing this through from just a head, to a full swan. Progress!
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Happy knitting!
Ali 🙂
How to Knit a Swan
Total time 6 Hours 50 Minutes
Made from one knitted body piece, one neck piece, one head and beak piece, two knitted leg pieces, and four small knitted pieces to form the two feet. Optional two pieces to form the sides of the face colouration, and one piece if needed for the basal knob (mute and black-necked swans only.) All pieces are sewn together and stuffed, with added stitching for the eye features. Depending on your breed of swan, an extra knitted lump for the top of the beak (basal knob), may also be sewn into place.
Handmade Gift Ideas!
Get some more ideas, see what you will need and follow the patterns to learn exactly how you can make your own… More Knitted Gift Ideas!
I aim to have a new pattern up on the website every few weeks (children and their busy schedules permitting!) and I’ll let you know as soon as the next one is up and ready to go…
