A Super Simple Sweater for Any Time of Year

One of my favorite ways to use a lot of yarn quickly is to hold two strands of yarn (or more!) together as I knit. This is a great way to give a project a marled look, and it’s not any more difficult than working with a single strand of yarn.

The Kenwood Sweater from Two of Wands for Lion Brand Yarn uses two strands of worsted weight yarn held together for a sweater that’s warm and cozy. But because it’s worked on large needles, it has a bit of airiness to it that makes it nice for cool summer nights on the beach or in buildings with too much air conditioning.

The sweater calls for Color Theory yarn, which was developed by Two of Wands in 18 harmonious colors, so you can choose any two colors you like and they’re sure to look great together.

Of course if you want to make it a stash buster you can use any two worsted weight yarns from your stash. You can even change colors as you run out of yarn for a faded effect. (I did that with this sweater tunic design, and I love the way it turned out.)

This version is worked flat in pieces from the bottom up and features a modified drop shoulder design and crew neck.

The pattern has eight sizes ranging in chest measurement from 37 to 66 inches, or 94 to 167.5 cm, and is intended to be worn with about 7 inches/17.75 cm of positive ease, though you can alter that as you like. I love the cozy, boxy look of this one with the positive gauge, and it would be a perfect first sweater pattern if you’re looking for something quick, easy and fun to start with.

You can download this pattern for free from Lion Brand, or purchase a kit direct from them with all the supplies you need.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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