Free Addi Express Mini Knit Rainbow Wall Hanging Tutorial
You may have seen my other rainbow wall hanging tutorial which used foam dowels inserted inside the knit tubes. Since the closure of many Michaels stores across the country the foam dowels are a bit harder to get at this time as the cost to purchase them online and pay for shipping is almost double the price. I thought it would be a good idea to share my other wall hanging pattern that doesn’t use the foam dowels. These smaller rainbows are quite cute and also look great as a wall hanging.
Mini Knit Rainbow Wall Hanging
This tutorial is written for use with a circular knitting machine, though you can certainly knit these tubes by hand. Use the appropriate size needle for your yarn and measure as you go for row counts.
Materials for Completion:
Worsted Weight Yarn – you will need 7 colors plus a large skein of white for the pom poms
*Suggested Yarns:
- Hand Made Modern available at Target
- Red Heart Super Saver available on Amazon
- Mainstays Basic Yarn available at Walmart
- Premier Just Worsted I found mine at the Dollar Tree
Darning Needle
Pom Pom Maker (I have the Clover ones)
Additional materials
Super Bulky Yarn such as Wool-Ease Thick & Quick or Hometown USA
Size: The sizes vary, depending on the number of colors used, the row counts and the type of yarn. The below images used the same size 4 worsted weight yarn, one has 4 colors and measures approximately 4” x 4” I started with 30 rows, the 7 color rainbow measures 6” x 8” without the pompoms, 8” x 8” with the pom poms and I started with 40 rows.
Finding yarn in the colors of the rainbow in one brand was a bit tricky. I ended up using yarn from all of the ones listed above to find the right shades that I wanted.
*Other yarns can be used, however tension and rows may vary depending on the type of yarn you choose.
Knitting The Tubes
When knitting your tubes, cast on as you normally would and crank out the number of rows for each color as listed below.
Crank out the number of rows for each color listed below for a 7 color rainbow
Red – 100
Orange – 90
Yellow – 80
Green 70
Blue – 60
Indigo – 50
Violet – 40
If you want to make less arches in your rainbow, start with 30 or 40 rows then add 10 rows for each color. The tiny rainbow below started with 30 rows, then I did 4 colors.
Putting the Rainbow Together
Cinch both ends of your tube closed. Fold your tube in half like a hot dog bun, you can insert some super bulky yarn into the folded tube, leaving some extra yarn on each side if you want or leave the tube without the yarn. For the rainbow with the super bulky yarn I used 4 strands of super bulky yarn. You will want to do this for each of the tubes, making sure you leave about the same amount of yarn on each end of each tube.
Next you will want to close the tubes. Pick the shorter tail and hide it inside the tube. Grab a new strand of yarn in the same color of the tube. Starting on the same side as the side with the yarn tail, single crochet the opening closed. Repeat for all colors.
You will want each tube to have a yarn tail on each end of the tube.
Starting with the violet yarn tail, thread the yarn through the ends of each tube up to the top. Then grab the red tail and thread through each tube bringing it down to the bottom. Repeat on the other side.
Using the red yarn tail tie the center closed.
Take all of the remaining yarn tails and weave them in towards the center of the rainbow, you will want all of the yarn tails coming out of the center on the back side.
Take all of the remaining yarn tails and sew the arches together by bringing the yarn up under the yarn on the tubes. I sort of zig zag as shown in the image below.
Once the yarn tails have all been woven in tie off in knots. Trim the super bulky yarn to your desired length. Trim all yarn tails.
Since I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease which is a 2 ply yarn I split some of the yarn to add a bit of a texture to the bottom of this rainbow.
Add a loop by threading yarn up along each of the tubes. Start at the bottom center of the rainbow and come up through the top. Loop the yarn and tie a knot around one of the stitches on the top. Then bring the yarn back down to the bottom and tie together with the other yarn tail. Cut yarn and weave in ends.
I finished a few of my wall hangings with cotton batting, you could also use felt, I glued this on and it seems to be holding up quite well.
Now if you made a rainbow without the super bulky yarn you can add some pom poms to your rainbow or leave it as is.
If you want to add the pompoms you can do so in the same way as my other rainbow wall hanging. I use the Clover brand pom pom makers, you will need about 5-7 pom-poms depending on the size you choose to make. For my rainbow I used 7 35mm pom poms.
After you have all of your pom poms made you can tie them on. I use my darning needle and tie the pom pom around one of the tubes of the arch. For this rainbow I used 7 mini pom poms.
And now you are finished and have a super cute rainbow wall hanging!
Try out this pattern with different yarns, just be mindful that some yarns may need more or less rows when you knit your tubes.
Printable Tag Set available in my Etsy Shop
Printable Tag Set available in my Etsy Shop
PDF pattern includes row count chart for making this Mini Rainbow
Mini Knit Rainbow Pattern and my Large Knit Rainbow Pattern PDF are both available in my Etsy Shop if you would like either in PDF format.
Thank you so much for making it this far on my post. I have had such a fun time making this pattern.
If you have the time I would appreciate it if you would visit my Etsy Shop, sales on tags and other printables help me out a lot so that I can keep adding free patterns and printables onto my blog. I love not having ads all over my site, I don’t want to add ads other than a few affiliate links here and there to my posts as I think they really ruin the viewing experience. I am hoping if I can continue to make sales in my Etsy Shop to help me with my finances I can continue to add freebies to my site.
Thank you so much, and happy knitting 🙂
This pattern and the pictures are property of Savlabot and may not be shared or sold. You are welcome to sell finished products that are made using this pattern, but please link pattern/blog post to Savlabot as the author or the pattern link in your description and use pictures you have taken yourself if posting in an online marketplace such as Etsy. If you share on social media please tag me with @savlabot and use #Savlabot. Thank you.
