A V-Neck to Knit from Side to Side

One of the things that’s great about knitting is that you can make projects that fit exactly the way you want them. But if you’re newer to knitting you might not have the confidence to go your own way on a project, so it can help to work with projects that are meant to be made to measure to give yourself some practice.

The Confluence V-neck from Lauren McElroy is a great project to try out your skills at making a made to measure garment. It’s worked from side to side in seed stitch using two strands of fingering weight yarn held together.

You can decide how long you want it to be, how much ease you like and the depth of the V-neck/back as you sew the pieces together.

The seed stitch gives it a fun textured look that’s not at all difficult to achieve, and you can play with colors by using two coordinating shades or using two strands of the same yarn held together as you like.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry or on Lauren’s website.

This pattern is part of Lauren’s spring and summer collection, which also includes the made to measure Verse top, a super light fingering weight top that has a keyhole opening that can be worn at the front or the back of the garment as you like.

This one includes a picot edging and is worked from the bottom up in the round until the keyhole split. It also includes picots at the neckline, an I-cord tie and tiny buttons to close the neckline. It’s worked with a lovely silk and linen blend yarn that’s perfect for summer and great to wear with your favorite linen pants on the beach or anywhere else.

This pattern can also be found on Ravelry or you can purchase it directly from Lauren’s website.

[Photo: Lauren McElroy]

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Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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