Knitting

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Book Review: Quick Knit Baby Toys

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Babies like the simple things, including when it comes to toys. While it’s lots of fun to knit elaborate projects for babies (and others!), it’s also totally fine to knit simple things. Baby might just end up liking the more basic toys more because they’re not so precious they can’t be played with. 

Designer Juliette Michelet has designed 20 beginner-friendly doll projects for babies she shares in her book Quick Knit Baby Toys: 20 Beginner-Friendly Patterns for Knitted Baby Comforters. 

The patterns all call for the same materials: fingering weight yarn for knitting the bodies, plus lace weight for embroidery; size 0 US/2 mm knitting needles in straight and circular configurations; thread for embroidering; scissors and a tapestry needle. 

The book covers the basics of knitting and embroidery that are needed to finish the projects, but it’s all pretty basic and the bodies of the dolls are worked flat in rectangles with minimal shaping (ears are worked in the round). There’s more to explain for finishing than there is for knitting, as how you sew up the pieces makes them look like little dolls. 

The creations are as follows:

  • little man with blue hat 
  • apple baby
  • mum with an embroidered skirt
  • little man with a bird sweater
  • sailor
  • sweetheart
  • explorer
  • bear in a ruff
  • bear with hearts
  • deer
  • bird
  • cat
  • rabbit
  • mouse
  • sheep
  • lion
  • elf
  • fox 
  • king
  • witch

The patterns all have fun details such as gold embroidery and a crown on the king, or a little hat with a pompom on top for the bird. The photography is whimsical, showing the characters in different scenes that could inspire creative play if your older kiddos look at the pictures. 

The back of the book includes charts and instructions for embroidery so you can make your dolls look just like the ones in the book or you can go your own way to make different designs on sweaters and skirts, for example. These projects would be great little stash busters, and you can always make them bigger by using heavier yarn if you like. (The patterns don’t say how big these are.) 

These dolls would be a lot of fun to knit and are pretty quick projects so you can make a basket full for a little one in your life. 

About the book: 80 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $17.99.

 

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Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork. 

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn. 

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look. 

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me. 

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. 

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.