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]

As we get into the part of the year with a lot of food-forward holidays, it might be time to start thinking about knitting some new things for your table. While a few of these are more fall/Thanksgiving focused, just changing up the colors would make others work for Christmas, or keep it neutral and use them all year long.

What got me started thinking about this was the lovely and simple Fresh Bread Dishtowel, a free pattern from Purl Soho. Worked in a lovely cotton and linen blend, the towel is mostly stockinette stitch with a bit of texture on the borders.

You could use this same kind of pattern to make anything from placemats to a table runner, but let’s look at some specific patterns for those kinds of projects as well.

The easy moss stitch table runner from Glass Bird Knits is beginner friendly can can easily be modified to fit your table (or, again, to make placemats instead of or in addition to a runner). This version is worked in macrame cord, but you could also use bulky yarn.

Emielle Design has a garter stitch runner pattern that’s made with braided cotton cord for a lot of texture without a lot of work. But be sure to take a lot of breaks when knitting with cord because it can be rough on your hands!

I also love the diamond pattern on the Hamilton Table Runner from Wyndlestraw Designs. It calls for a DK weight cotton and linen blend yarn and comes in three sizes with different widths and lengths. The pattern has both written and charted instructions.

Amy Marie’s Table Pumpkins (on Ravelry) is a fun mosaic knitting pattern that would be great to use as a table runner through the fall and for Thanksgiving. It uses a worsted weight cotton yarn in two colors, and you can make it as long as you like for your table.

The no cable knit placemats from Yarn Culture Studio have a fun faux cable look that would be great for the table through the fall and winter.

Or here’s another pattern from Wyndlestraw Designs, this time for an easy knit and purl stitch placemat pattern that looks different but still good on both sides. It calls for worsted weight cotton and comes in two sizes for placemats, but also has instructions for coasters, a hot pad and a table pad all using the same stitch.

Have you read?