There wasn't a lot of knitting news out there when I looked this week; perhaps the fascination with the knitty arts ebbs a bit after the holidays? No matter, there are still some great stories out there, such as the story of Wyn Clark, a knitter from Ballarat (that's in Australia) who just knit her 1,500th Trauma Teddy, which are dolls distributed by the Red Cross to people going through trauma. She's knit the dolls for 10 years, and though the 87-year-old has been knitting since she was 6, she never purls.

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There's nothing more iconic at Valentine's time than hearts, and knitting a heart-shaped project is a great way to celebrate the holiday and give a gift of love.

This sweet little pillow adds a bit of love any time of year. © Eileen Casey.

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Knitting stripes is a lot of fun. For some reason it seems like any knitting pattern that involves stripes goes faster than solid-color knitting would. I guess that's because I'm always eager to get to the next color change and see how the colors play with each other.

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I don't know why it is that I always think accessories when I think of knitting for holidays, but that's where my mind goes. For instance, washcloths. And headbands. I love headbands, especially now that I have short hair again, and a holiday-themed headband can make an outfit look like it was planned for the occasion when really all you did was throw on a fancy head wrapper.

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One easy way to add a bit of color to a piece of knitting -- as well as automatically making the knitting go faster because your yarn will be bulkier -- is to work with two strands of yarn at the same time that are different colors. A bold color paired with a more dramatic color, as in my Moss Stitch Headband, tones down the boldness of the one color and makes the other more interesting.

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Holiday-themed washcloths are a lot of fun because they allow you to add a little bit of whimsy to your decor without a lot of work. This clever design -- the Heart Washcloth by Eileen Casey -- takes advantage of color pooling in a multicolored yarn.

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When you knit with multicolored yarns, there's a somewhat inevitable phenomena that's likely to take place known as color pooling. In yarns where the colors change at regular intervals and repeat in the same order, it's likely that the same color will stack up on itself repeatedly in your pattern, causing patches or pools in the finished fabric.

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My absolute favorite Valentine's Day knitting pattern here at About.com has got to be the OXO Scarf. Featuring the easy but effective OXO cable, this somewhat skinny scarf is perfect for the little girl in your life. You could probably make it for a boy, too, just don't tell him the cable is made of Xs and Os!

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Using a multicolored yarn is the easiest way to get more color in your knitting, but it's not always clear from looking at the skein or ball of yarn exactly how your finished knitting is going to look. Sometimes you'll love the look of a colorway in the yarn but not like it in the knitting, or vice versa. And of course different stitch patterns will produce different results in the same yarn.

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Valentine's Day is one holiday that I don't get into all that much, but I do have some cute Valentine's Day knitting projects for your enjoyment and use for the day of love.

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