A Cozy Knit to Calm Your Mind

This time of year is full of fun, but it also can be full of stress, with tons of activities going on and a seemingly never-ending list of things to do.

It’s not the time for some super complicated, stressful knitting project. It’s the time to take it easy and knit something simple and lovely that’s just for you.

Enter Idle Hands, this pretty, boxy cardigan knitting pattern from Winter’s Weather Knits.

It’s worked holding a strand of sock yarn and a boucle/fuzzy/mohair style yarn to make a sport weight gauge, or you could just use sport weight yarn if you don’t want the fuzz factor.

The sweater is worked from the bottom up in one piece using linen stitch, which is relatively mindless once you get going. It’s definitely meditative and great for when you need a moment of calm or something to do with your hands while you’re relaxing in front of the TV.

There’s a lot of positive ease built into this sweater to make it even cozier. The smallest size, for example, has a 42.5 inch chest circumference, and it is meant to be worn with 13 to 15 inches of positive ease. There are 9 sizes included in the pattern with the largest finished bust on the sweater being 74.5 inches. It has no finishing for the edges and is meant to be worn open.

Of course if you don’t want that much positive ease you can choose a smaller size that will give you less ease if that’s available to you. You can also choose to make it with short sleeves or three quarter sleeves (or longer if you want). You can also adjust the length to make it more of a coat or even make it shorter if you like. Isn’t it nice when you can make a project however you like?

You can get the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Winter’s Weather Knits]

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If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

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