Book Review: Coffeehouse Knits

There’s something about the vibe of a good coffeehouse: relaxing, creative, warm and welcoming. It’s a place where you want to hang out, pull out your knitting and stay a while with a tasty beverage close at hand.

Coffeehouse Knits by Kerry Bogert celebrates the spirit of the coffeehouse and the rituals of knitting with 20 inspired patterns form a variety of designers.

Essays on the knitting community and the magic of knitting together (even if you’re an introvert) may inspire you to make some of these projects in public.

There are sweaters, cowls, shawls and socks, a hat and mittens, all with a relaxed and cozy style.

A couple of my favorites are the Chai Latte Cowl by Lori Wagner, with a simple Broken Rib pattern and a faux cable to make the knitting a little more interesting; Meghan Babin’s Dirty Chai Pullover, featuring swirls of traveling stitches and a cozy turtleneck; and the Morning Brew Sweater from Kiri Fitzgerald, with its great lace V-neck detail. Check out all the patterns on Ravelry.

This book is a great choice for intermediate knitters who like patterns with nice details but that aren’t super complicated and are just loungy enough to keep you super comfy whatever your day brings you.

About the book: 144 pages, hardcover, 20 patterns. Published by Interweave Books, suggested retail $26.99.

A long time ago, when I was writing the knitting website for About.com, someone asked me about all the different ways to knit thumbs on mittens, if someone asked me that question now, though, I could direct them to The Mitten Handbook by Mary Scott Huff. This book contains everything you need to know to knit your own mittens to any size, any gauge, using a variety of edging, cuff, thumb and top treatments.

Looking for more knitting patterns for Mittens? Check these out on Etsy.

For years now Berroco has been releasing a tiny set of Christmas ornament knitting patterns, often modeled on human-sized clothes, called Minutia. The ones for this year haven’t come out yet, but somehow I missed last year’s so I wanted to share them, as well as a fun little twist they offered.

The general 2025 Minutia patterns include a circular yoke sweater, a two-color stocking and a ribbed earflap hat. They’re super cute and perfect for using little (or should I say minute?) amounts of yarn left over from other projects. Make them in Christmas colors or whatever you have on hand. Even if you don’t have exactly the same yarn weight, you can still make these cute additions to your holiday decor.

But what really caught my eye while I was on the Berocco site was the Team Colors Minutia, which are actually different patterns so I’m not even sure when they were released, but they are definitely worth talking about.

These patterns include a little raglan sweater with stripes and a stocking cap with contrasting pom pom.

They call for sport weight yarn, but again you could use sock or DK if that’s what you have in the right colors. And here the right colors are important because you’re stitching your team colors.

Or anyone else’s team colors.

I immediately thought that this would be an amazing holiday gift for someone who you never know what to get but who also happens to like sports. Or has gone to a university that has colors.

Another option would be to leave off the stripes and add a number in duplicate stitch if you or the person you’re knitting for has a favorite player. Or stitch a letter or a tiny version of the team logo on the front. There are lots of options!

If you make these, I’d love to hear what you did with them!

[Photo: Berroco]

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