Knitting

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Book Review: Knit Yourself Calm

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Now more than ever I think most of us who knit or do other fiber arts are aware of their mental health benefits. We see a reduction in stressful feelings, an ability to control something, which can be powerful, and physiological benefits like decreased blood pressure can come from regular crafting time.

Knit Yourself Calm by Lynne Rowe and Betsan Corkhill came out several years before the pandemic, but its prescription of simple projects to help you calm down and skill-building patterns when you need more of a challenge is a great one for our times.

Despite the title the book doesn’t actually go into a lot of detail about why or how crafting is beneficial as a stress-reduction technique. It is mostly a collection of different kinds of projects for different times — when you need something quick and easy, portable, to work on with a group (or, these days, individually and one person can put the pieces together), big projects and projects for learning new skills.

You’ll find patterns like washcloths, a ribbed scarf and Garter Stitch pillows, simple hats and socks, a patchwork blanket, stripe shawl and cabled fingerless mitts, to name a few. You can see a few of the patterns on the cover on Amazon, or there’s a flip-through preview on the publisher’s website.

Most of the project are suitable for newer knitters who are ready to move on from the basics, and there are instructions for all the techniques needed. If you’re not a new knitter but you like solid patterns with cute design elements but that don’t need a lot of thought put into them, these are good options for you as well. None of the projects totally wow me, but they’d be fine as comfort projects when you just need to run something nice through your needles.

About the book: 112 pages, paperback, 16 patterns. Published 2017 by Search Press, suggested retail $15.95.

 

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Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.