Celebrate Valentine’s Day with our knitted rose garland!
This fabulous floral knitted rose garland from Ann Franklin is a lovely way to decorate your staircase, bedroom or conservatory. Each rose is simple to knit, and stretchy garter stitch enables this delicate swag to wrap around bannisters and bedposts with ease.
Ann’s garland makes a perfect Valentine’s Day gift or Mother’s Day present, or simply use it to bring spring colour into your home.
Keep scrolling to find our free knitted rose garland pattern.
What you will need to make your knitted rose garland
- Robin DK (DK, 100% acrylic, 100g/300m balls) 1 ball of each:
- Yarn A Lovat (144)
- Yarn B Fondant (052)
- Yarn C White (040)
- Yarn D Pink (046)
- A pair of 5mm (UK 6/US 8) knitting needles
- 2m narrow pink ribbon
Tension
20 stitches and 32 rows to measure 10x10cm (4x4in) over stocking stitch using 5mm needles
Measurements
Length: 180cm (71in, approx 6ft)
Width: 6-9cm (2½-3½in)
Abbreviations
B&T (break and tighten): break off the yarn and thread the end through the st(s) left on the needle. Pull the end of the yarn to tighten the st(s) together.
K3togtbl: knit the next three stitches together through the back of the loop.
Head over to our knitting abbreviations page for more useful terms.
Your free knitted rose garland pattern
Backing Band
Note: The garland’s backing band is worked in garter stitch to ensure that it is fully flexible. This enables the garland to lie on top of a bannister, or be twisted around it.
Cast on 7 sts using 5mm needles and Yarn A.
Work in garter stitch (knit every row) until work measures 180cm.
Cast off.
Leaves
(Make 40)
Cast on 3 sts using 5mm needles and Yarn A.
Rows 1 to 6: Knit to end.
Row 7 (RS): Kfb, knit to end. [1 st inc’d]
Repeat Row 7 until there are 11 sts.
Rows 15 and 16: Knit to end.
Row 17: K1, K2tog, knit to end. [1 st dec’d]
Repeat Row 17 until 3 sts remain.
Row 24: K3togtbl. [1st]
B&T.
Roses
(Make 11 in Yarn B, 11 In Yarn C and 10 in Yarn D)
Cast on 36 sts using 5mm needles.
Row 1 (RS): *K3, kfb; rep from * to end.
[45 sts]
Row 2: Purl to end.
Row 3: *K4, kfb; rep from * to the end.
[54 sts]
Beg with a purl row, work in st st for 3 rows.
Cast off.
Note: Each 50cm length of garland will use about 11 leaves and about 9 roses.
If you wish to make a longer or shorter length of garland, you will need to adjust the amount of yarn needed.
Finishing
Leaves: Neaten the top (cast-off) edge on all leaves, leaving the yarn tail at the cast-on edge to use for attaching the leaves to the backing band. Put to one side until the roses have been formed.
Roses: With the right side on the outside, and allowing the cast-off edge to curl to the outside, roll the cast-on edge so that the bottom of the rose forms a flat spiral and the curled cast-off edge is spread to form the illusion of petal layers. Sew each layer of the spiral, at the bottom, in place as it is being formed.
Making up
Sew the leaves and roses to the backing band, with the leaves in a layer below the roses, and placing the leaves and roses randomly, to make the garland appear more natural. In particular, check to make sure that while the colours are distributed evenly across the backing band, they are not always in the same order, nor that they are placed in a straight line across the backing band.
Take care not to stretch the backing band as you sew the leaves and roses on it.
As there are more leaves than roses, some roses will have more than one leaf, with one leaf needed at the cast-off and the cast-on edge of the Backing Band.
Ribbon: Cut the ribbon into 40cm lengths and sew them to the bottom of the backing band at the cast-on and cast-off edges, and at 45cm intervals. Place the centre of the ribbons in the centre of the backing band width. These ribbons will be used as ties to fasten the garland in place.
Celebrate spring with a knitted rose garland
Ann Franklin’s knitted garland is a joyful celebration of spring and will bring floral colour into your home. With 40 leaves to knit, this makes a great project to take with you for on-the-go knitting. When it comes to sewing it all together, use the yarn tails to save wasting yarn!
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