Show somebody you care on Valentine's Day or all year round with this knitted heart pattern by Jane Burns, taken from Simply Knitting issue 142. Perfect for charity knitting, this heart gift is a sweet way to send some love to anyone who needs a smile.
Our little knitted heart is great for using up scraps from your stash, as all you need is a small amount of DK weight yarn. You could also substitute whatever yarn you have available – just be aware that it'll change the size of your finished heart and you need to use the right needles to match. See our guide to knitting tension squares for more details.
If you haven't got any toy stuffing to hand why not stuff your heart using more yarn scraps? Don't throw away those little yarn ends from other projects! Jane's heart pattern is for a keyring, but you could add a hanging loop made from crochet chain stitch or a length of ribbon instead if you wish.
We love how easily this knitted heart pattern can be customised – and we hope you'll love it too!
More heart patterns
Spread the love with our sweet handmade hearts for you to craft. Cast on a heart decoration knitting pattern or stitch a flower heart hanging, make a crochet heart decoration and fabric heart decorations, or send a floral greeting with our heart patterned papers.
To make this knitted heart pattern you will need:
- Rowan, Super Fine Merino DK (100% Merino wool, 115m/50g), 1 ball of Zing (146)
- This yarn has been discontinued, but you could substitute Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK (Buy it from Ebay) or any DK-weight yarn from your stash
- A pair of 3¼mm knitting needles Buy them from The Knitting Network
- Toy stuffing Buy it from Lovecrafts
- Darning needle Buy it from Ebay
- Keyring Buy it from Ebay
How to knit a heart: easy knitting pattern
This pattern uses our standard knitting abbreviations. It's written using UK metrics but it's really easy to convert – just check out our yarn weight conversion chart and knitting needle sizes guide.
We also have guides on how to cast on knitting and how to cast off knitting, plus how to increase a stitch in knitting and how to decrease in knitting.
Tension
Yarn used knits as DK to this tension: 24 sts and 34 rows to measure 10x10cm over stocking stitch using 3¼mm needles
Measurements
The finished knitted heart is 8cm wide
Knitted heart keyring
Make 2 pieces.
Cast on 2 sts using long-tail method.
Row 1 Knit.
Row 2 Purl.
Row 3 (Kfb) twice. [4 sts]
Row 4 Purl.
Row 5 K1, M1, knit to last st, M1, K1. [2 sts inc’d]
Row 6 Purl.
Rep last 2 rows 8 more times. [22 sts]
Row 23 Knit.
Row 24 Purl.
Row 25 K1, M1, knit to last st, M1, K1. [24 sts]
Row 26 Purl.
Row 27 Knit.
Row 28 Purl.
Row 29 Knit.
Row 30 P12, turn and work on these sts only.
Row 31 K1, ssk, K9. [11 sts]
Rows 32, 34 & 36 Purl.
Rows 33, 35 & 37 K1, ssk, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, K1. [5 sts after row 37]
Row 38 P1, p3tog, P1. [3 sts]
Cast off.
With WS facing, rejoin yarn, purl rem 12 sts.
Row 1 K9, k2tog, K1. [11 sts]
Rows 2, 4 & 6 Purl.
Rows 3, 5 & 7 K1, ssk, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, K1. [5 sts after row 7]
Row 8 P1, p3tog, P1. [3 sts]
Cast off.
To make up the knitted heart
Use mattress stitch to sew two hearts together, leaving 2cm gap. Stuff gently and sew closed. Sew keyring to top of heart using image as a guide.
Download the knitted heart pattern
Follow this link for a downloadable version of our heart knitting pattern: Knitted heart pattern PDF
When you've finished this, why not try making our knitted cactus pattern and knitted poppy pattern to decorate your home too? Check out our knitting patterns for more project ideas, and find lots of tips and tricks in our how to knit section.
