Book Review: Complete Knit Collection for Beginners

Sometimes when you are a new knitter or you are trying to get someone started as a knitter, it can be difficult to pick patterns that will be easy enough for you/them to be successful with but that also aren’t boring or take a long time to knit.

While I’m guilty of using a bulky weight Garter Stitch scarf as a beginner project, something smaller is a great choice to give new stitchers the gratification of finishing a project quickly.

Marly Bird’s Complete Knit Collection for Beginners offers 20 patterns perfect for new knitters, plus lots of tips and advice to get you started (it does not, however, include actual instructions on how to knit).

The projects take you through Garter and Stockinette stitch, ribbing, stripes, increasing and decreasing. There are lots of great basics here that are good for learning new skills or knitting as gifts or for charity projects. (You can see pictures of the projects on the Leisure Arts website.)

Four of the patterns are rated easy and the rest basic, so even if you are a completely new knitter you can find things to knit here. This would be a good book to give as a gift to someone who you want to encourage to learn to knit as well.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2019 by Leisure Arts, suggested retail $21.99.

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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