Add a Gorgeous Little Knit Cover to Your Summer Outfits

Sometimes it’s hard to keep wearing your knits in spring and summer if you’re the type who has a warm nature. You can knit tees and tank tops, and even summer dresses, but it can also be nice to have a little knit cover to throw on in the evening when it’s a little cool or when you step into somewhere that’s cooler than outside.

The Stratum pullover/poncho by Yumiko Alexander is a great example of this type of garment. It’s just two big rectangles sewn together at the shoulders, with a little bit of sewing to make a “sleeve” on each side.

It’s worked with two fine weight yarns held together to make a DK weight (or you could start with a DK weight if you happen to have some handy). This makes it super light so it shouldn’t make you feel hot to wear it.

There are lace panels across the top of each piece, with a faux seam down the center to break up the eyelets. There’s also lace running down the sides, forming the edge of the sleeve and the sides of the garment. It’s rated for intermediate knitters because of the lace, but if you’ve worked lace before you should be fine with this project.

The piece is one size in width (43 inches), with three options for the length: 16, 20 and 24 inches, so you can decide if you want it cropped, long or somewhere in between. There are instructions for how to make the panels narrower or wider if you need to as well.

This would be a great little garment to wear over summer dresses or even to your fancy summer events when you want to wear something special that you made.

The pattern is available in English and Japanese, and you can get a copy on Ravelry.

[Photo: Yumiko Alexander.]

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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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