Bag Knitting Patterns Made with Sock Yarn

I’ve been writing posts for a while about things to do with sock yarn that aren’t socks, and this month’s installment is bags. In keeping with the season and the idea that you might be wanting to use up some stash or leftovers from other projects, these are mostly tiny bags to hold little things. They don’t take a lot of yarn or a lot of time to knit but will make you smile every time you use them.

>> BTW, have you seen the cute bird made of leftover yarn? <<

Because we’re knitters, we should knit ourselves something every now and then (or even more often) so why not also knit something that you can use while you’re knitting? This yarn cozy from Melina Bell (free on Ravelry) is a great way to hold a cake of yarn together while you knit, and the Jaywalker Wrist Yarn Holder from Tammy Imhoff Designs (also free on Ravelry) makes it easy to knit on the go as your yarn ball can hang from your wrist.

Fuzzysox Designs has a free pattern on Ravelry for a bag to hold your dog poo bags, and Olga Olach (Ravelry again!) has a free pattern for a cozy for your iPod case.

How about a dice bag, or a bag for little treasures of another sort? Check out the pretty little Gnomish Dice Bag from I Cast Mending on Etsy. It has a cute little picot edging and is super quick and easy to knit. The designer says it holds two sets of dice, or if you have a ton of dice you can organize them by color and keep each color in a coordinating bag.

Or try the Dragonskin Dice/Treasure Bag from Michaela Jandacek, which you can find on Ravelry. This free pattern uses slipped stitches with the yarn held in front to evoke dragon scales, and uses a twisted cord as a drawstring.

Megan Nodecke’s Parlour Trick pattern is made to fit a deck of cards, but you could use it for other treasures. It has a flat bottom and comes in various sizes to hold playing cards, trading cards or tarot cards. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

The bento bag from Ozetta on Etsy is shown worked with two strands of yarn held together, which you can also do, or use a single strand and just work it to whatever size you need. These bags are great to use as gift wrapping because they become part of the gift and can be reused.

Sock Yarn Gloves Knitting Patterns

Sock Yarn Cowl Knitting Patterns

One Skein Sock Yarn Shawl Knitting Patterns

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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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