Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

A Beyond-Basic Vest to Knit for Fall or Spring

by

I’m sure I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating that in the past couple of years I have really come to appreciate the value of a good vest. Sometimes you want a little extra warmth on your body but you don’t necessarily need full sleeves. And sometimes your sweater isn’t quite cutting it so you can add a vest to bring a little more warmth to your outfit.

You can wear them over a T-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, or a dress, and depending on the style sometimes you can even wear them tank top style without any shirt underneath. Totally up to you.

This vest is the Hlumelo Vest from Noma Ndlovu and it’s a deep V-neck worked in DK weight yarn. The horizontal stripes of the gridded colorwork pattern are knit as you go, while the vertical columns are purled to show placement for surface crochet chains that are worked after the knitting is done.

I know that sounds kind of weird but it’s a much easier way to add vertical colorwork that’s only one stitch wide. Otherwise, you’d have some very funky intarsia going on and lots more ends to weave in.

It’s worked from the top down and available in nine sizes, ranging from a chest measurement of 36.5 inches to 62.5 inches. It is recommended that the vest be worn with 2 to 8 inches of positive ease.

You can download the pattern from Ravelry.

Speaking of my obsession with vests, you can read more about that and get a super simple free vest knitting pattern here. This striped vest I shared recently is also super cute and has stripes that vary in both color and texture. How cool is that?

Looking for more Vest patterns to knit? Check out these Vest Knitting patterns on Etsy and these designs on the Sirdar website.

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.