Another Free(ish) Pattern: Striped Toddler Vest

It’s interesting that I keep happening upon patterns this week where one size is free but others are available for purchase. It’s actually really clever because people can get a peek at what your patterns look like without buying, but can choose to if they like the look of the pattern but need a different size.

Today’s partial freebie is the cute, bulky Striped Toddler Vest by Jean Fleming. The size 3/4 pattern is available as a download on Ravelry, and is sized up to size 8 in a pattern available at her Etsy shop for $5.

This easy striped vest is a quick project with the option of a classic collar or a hoodie. Or, since it knits up so quick, why not make both in a couple of different stripe combinations?

I love bulky knits on kids, and the fact that when the grow out of them fast you haven’t spent too much time on them. If you have a little on e in your life, this one is worth a look.

[Photo by Jean Fleming.]

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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