Starsky’s famous double knit sweater isn’t the easiest garment to recreate—so why not try a smaller project with the same colorwork?
Some Starsky style socks…
Click on the image to view it larger.
… legwarmers, mittens, hats, cushions covers, laptop/tablet cases, handbags? You name it!
To make it easier to get started, here are the colorwork charts for both the main pattern from the sweater and the hem pattern.
Click on the image to view it larger.
This is a slightly straightened version of the original—the original sweater has some funny quirks, if you look at it really closely. Click here for more about the sweater and its irregularities.
This is soooooooo cool!!!
I want those super cute Starsky socks and I want everything else (the hat, mittens, cushion covers, a handbag, Starsky…)
I’ll ask my mum for help – sadly knitting is not my speciality.
Thank you very much for the patterns. You are awesome! and your SH inventory blog is amazing.
Thanks, I’m glad you like it! I’m wearing the Starsky socks here… I’m not much of a knitter myself: all I ever knit is socks, and my favorite sock yarn just happened to be right thickness to use that pattern without any special modifications. And I couldn’t even get the colorwork to crimp, which was a huge achievement for me! I hope your mum will knit you some Starsky-ish item now!
You are wearing the Starsky socks… I am so jealous now!
The socks look super cool in that pic but if I could chose I’d make them red, bright red
This authentic coloring isn’t my favorite sock color either, but of course I had to make this prototype pair as faithful to the actual concept as possible. If I ever bother going at that colorwork again, I’ll make a black pair. Someone in the Team Torino (who post on the Rewind group a lot) had a black version of the Starsky sweater, and it looked kind of cool.
Oh cool. Now if somebody would make me a pair! LOL! I can’t knit because of my hands, even if I wanted to. This is such fun!
Thanks! I’m sure you’ll find somebody to do just that!
If I still knitted, Mortmere, I’d sure give the socks a try! Alas, I haven’t picked up a pair of needles in eons. Thanks so much for this wonderful gift, and for the link to all the times (series and photo shoot) when he wore it (that was a real bonus!)
You’re welcome, Pat! Maybe now is a good time to pick up those needles? 😉
This is great! If I knew how to knit, I would make a hat, scarf and mittens.
My grandmother was a knitter and one time she tried to teach me, but I have the patience and attention span of a gnat, so we gave up pretty quickly. 🙂
Thank you, Daisy! A hat, scarf and mittens would be a great trio – never to be worn with the actual sweater, though – that’d be overkill! Hmm, maybe now is the time to start learning to knit, eh? It’s not that difficult, but it does take some patience. And YouTube is full of tutorials!
If I could still knit, you bet I would make something with this pattern! Great idea and gift.
Thanks! Hmm, I wonder what else one could use this pattern for except knitting (since it’s beginning to look like our fanbase doesn’t knit much, lol). Mosaic, perhaps? Heck, how about wall art with Post-it notes? 😀
Not a knitter. But I love that you posted the pattern. I bow to your ability to divine even the smallest details. And I love how well worn it is.
Thanks! Lots of non-knitters here, it seems! I can tell you, I got a headache from staring at that sweater, and I’m still not sure I caught everything that’s “wrong” with it.
Thanks so much for this pattern. It is awesome!
You’re welcome! I hope you can make use of it!
Wish I had the talent!
Never too old to learn! You’ll just need patience (and good fingers – mine get easily cramped after too much knitting, so I only knit when I need new socks).
Living in California, I’ve seen the sweater on many, many people but never socks. Cool.
Thanks! I wonder if mine is the first pair of Starsky socks in existence! All I could find online were variations of the sweater – tiny “sweaters” for dolls, bottles, teapots, stuff like that. I decided to make what I most need – I wear woolly socks even in high summer…
This is amazing, Mortmere!!
I knit, but this will make me work at it!
Thank you!
Thank you! Work, work, work… 😛
I never thought of applying the pattern to something besides a sweater. The socks look great and I love the geometric qualities of the pattern. Alas, I don’t knit but my daughter-in-law does so maybe I’ll be giving the pattern to her to figure out. Thank you, Mortmere,
I wish I had just a tad bit of your enormous artistic talent.
Thanks for your lovely comment, Edie! I hope your daughter-in-law makes something fun for you! It’s a great no-nonsense pattern that could be used for a lot of things. I hadn’t thought of using it for anything else either until now – simply because I realized that attempting to recreate that sweater with my current knitting skills would be a waste of time…
PS. I believe in that old saying that, in lots of things, talent covers 1%, the rest is just work, work, work – often just daring to try can get one further than one ever thought possible. Just a matter of what one decides to focus on – making art (and knitting!) is a skill that can be learned.
I love, love , love this! I don’t knit but I do embroider. This makes a perfect cross stitch pattern. There is also an embroidery stitch out there that mimics knit so you can add a pattern like this to the top of a plain sweater or a plain pair of socks!!! I’m off to make a Christmas present now for my favorite S&H pal. Thank you so much!
You’re welcome – I hoped someone would find immediate inspiration here for a S&H themed Christmas present, so hearing this makes me very happy! 🙂
Thanks so much Mortmere for figuring this complex pattern out and sharing the pattern. I can crochet but not knit. However, the pattern you shared might enable me to create some kind of embroidery out of this, which will be FUN to try.
Your artistic talent has NO LIMITS!
The socks you made look perfect and very warm.
Ursula
Thank you for your comment, Ursula! Feel free to get creative with the pattern!
So cute! Too bad I wouldn’t know where to begin in recreating them, so I’ll just enjoy your work. Thanks for your gift!
Thank you! <3
I can’t knit without causing injury, but it’d be great to see some of these at the next SHarecon.
Thank you, Mortmere.
Thank you! And yes, maybe some variations of the pattern will find their way to SHareCon! Plenty of time to get something done!
This is truly awesome. Well done!
Thank you! 🙂
Thanks so much for including those colour work charts! I’ve always wanted to knit a Starsky sweater (though the yarn cost, oy vay!). I’m going to make sure to print those out and keep them handy.
The socks are adorable.
You’re welcome! I hope they help if you ever knit that Starsky sweater – and if you do, instructions for putting that sweater together would be great! I can’t even guess how to start shape that collar, for instance. For now, I decided socks are more useful and time/cost effective, but maybe one day I’ll be crazy enough to tackle a bigger project… 🙂
First, I love the socks, really cute and warm looking!! I wouldn’t mind a hat, it would be really nice. Pity I don’t knit but thanks for sharing the pattern, it’s very well done and useful for a lot of different projects!
Thank you! I hope you can find someone to knit you a Starsky hat, and/or come up with some creative project of your own that doesn’t involve knitting!
Extremely cute! I wish I could knit.
Thank you! Never too late to learn, eh?
Love this!