Book Review: Knitted Baby Blankets and Cuddle Bags

Baby blankets are my favorite baby gift to knit. I love that they don’t have to be a particular size, you can play with stitch patterns and colors, and they are always useful (and tend to be useful longer than garments that may be quickly outgrown).

Marta Skadsheim Torkildsen shares more than 50 snuggly projects for baby in her book Knitted Baby Blankets & Cuddle Bags.

As you’d imagine from the title, this book is chock-full of baby blanket knitting patterns, most of which are pretty classic, solid color with an allover pattern or pattern blocks, or two or three color stripes. Six of the blankets are sized for preemies. In addition to the blankets there are three patterns for cuddle bags.

The patterns have a skill rating of one to three balls of yarn. Among the blankets, 18 are level one, 27 are level two and three are level three. The cuddle bags are one at each level.

The patterns aren’t listed on Ravelry but you can get a sneak peek on the publisher’s website. (Click on see inside this book.)

There are lots of cute options, such as Målfird, which has lacy heart blocks; Hilde, with blocks of reverse Stockinette stars; Torunn, covered in a lacy zig-zag; and Anne, with a textured diamond pattern.

This book is a great reference if you knit a lot of baby blankets for friends or for charity. The patterns are pretty and straightforward and should keep you happily knitting for a long time.

About the book: 144 pages, 51 patterns, hardcover. Published by Trafalgar Square Books, suggested retail $23.95.

Looking for more Baby Knitting patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

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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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