Give a Little Thistle

For Valentine’s Day this year I wanted to do a post focusing on patterns with hearts and one without hearts (coming soon!) so you have the option of being traditionally romantic or less so.

You won’t be surprised to know the first pattern in this genre to catch my eye was this knit heart from Cross Stitch Foxy. It’s a great one to make for the knitter in your life or anyone else where love feels like a work in progress (which it is, all the time). The design is 91 by 80 stitches, which comes out to 6.5 by 5.7 inches, or 16.5 by 14.5 cm. It uses eight colors.

And while we’re on the subject of representing other crafts in cross stitch, this heart from Tiny Modernist reminds me a bit of a quilt block. You can download this one from Fat Quarter Shop. It is 28 by 35 stitches, which is 2 by 2.5 inches on 14 count fabric (about 5 by 6.3 cm). It uses five colors.

I also love this collection from SamXStitch that looks like different fabrics stitched into heart shapes. There’s plaid, a woven design and other fun repeating patterns. Each heart uses the same five colors so you can make the whole set and hang them together. Each one is 43 by 41 stitches, which on 14 count fabric comes out to 3.07 by 2.93 inches, or 7.8 by 7.44 cm.

Or there’s this five heart set from Lagodargento Shop that gives you more nice heart cross stitch patterns to choose from. These are all worked in a single color and fit in 4-inch hoops for easy gifting or display.

And this one is a little different from the others but I couldn’t resist because I know so many people meet their partners online these days. I’m so glad I swiped right is a pattern by Faber Cross Stitch that includes a cute little gingham heart. This pattern uses four colors and measures 56 by 51 stitches. It fits in a 5-inch hoop.