Book Review: Sweet Knits

Sometimes when you’re looking for new things to knit, a big book or website full of patterns can be a bit overwhelming. You just want to knit one thing, say, for a new baby or little one in your life. You don’t need 100 suggestions.

That’s why I like the booklet type books that Leisure Arts puts out (their focus is on digital these days, but they’re good in whatever format). They’re focused on a really specific type of project and don’t include a lot of patterns so you can stay focused, and even if you only ever knit one or two projects you’ve still gotten your money’s worth because they aren’t that expensive.

Sweet Knits: 9 Baby Projects Sure to Be Your Favorite is one such book. Produced in collaboration with Lion Brand Yarns, as advertised it includes nine patterns for babies, mostly blankets and sweaters. The patterns are:

Cuddle Bear Blankie, made with boucle yarn, it’s a lovey sized blankie with a little bear head on one corner and paws on two others.
Gowanus Baby Wrap Cardi, a sweater that wraps and ties at the side and is made with worsted weight yarn (sizes are 1 year, 2 years and 3 years)
Glenwood Child’s Cardigan, pictured on the cover, which comes in 5 sizes up to a 34 inch chest (this pattern only gives chest size and doesn’t specify what ages they correlate to)
Rock the Casbah Afghan, a colorful, ripple stitch blanket perfect for tummy time
Diagonal Baby Afghan, worked in boucle from corner to corner
Branford Baby Blanket, which has a simple ribbed pattern worked in super soft yarn
Simple Diagonal Baby Afghan, worked in garter stitch on the bias with a multicolored yarn
Bonaire Baby Blankie, a pastel patchwork made of blocks of garter stitch
Sugar and Spice Shorts Set, a striped tank top and coordinating shorts both worked in multicolored yarn (this one is sized for 1 year, 2 years and 3 years)

The patterns aren’t super creative but they are good basics that will be easy for knitters of any skill level to crank out quickly for kiddos. I don’t love the inconsistency in sizing (a 34-inch chest sweater would fit some adults, so why is it included in a “baby” book?) or the fact that there are two corner to corner blanket patterns in a book with only nine patterns.

But still, the patterns are all cute and easy (they’re all rated for beginners or easy) and things you can come back to again and again to knit for little people in your life or to donate to charity.

About the book: 48 pages, paperback, 9 patterns. Published 2019 by Leisure Arts. Suggested retail $5.99 (ebook is $4.99).

Next Pattern:

Using your yarn stash is important to me throughout the year, but as I start to feel the end of the year coming on I get more excited about using things I already have in the house. Maybe that’s because I don’t want to go to a store in the thick of holiday shopping times, or I like the idea of having a little space in my stash when the new year rolls around.

It’s super satisfying to use up all the little odd balls you’ve made over the year (or years), and I have several stash busting blankets I work on when it’s cold and will maybe finish someday.

If you’d like to start a stash busting project that’s perfect for using up odd balls, check out the Soukish pattern from Neisha Abdulla. This pattern is made for fingering weight/sock yarn, and it’s worked in a tube with allover color work.

This is great for a couple of reasons. You don’t really have to weave in your ends when you can hide them in a tube (this is one time you might even get by just tying a knot when you change colors!) and you can change colors whenever you run out of yarn and it will look good.

Of course the pattern is made with blocks where the designer changed colors, but you can change yours more or less often as you need to make it work for your stash. You can use blank charts to design your own color combinations, or even your own stitch patterns if you like. You can also adjust the length of the scarf as needed or turn it into a cowl based on the amount of yarn you have.

This project looks like a lot of fun and would be a great thing to have on hand to stitch up and then to wear during the cold, gloomy months.

You can get a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Neisha Abdulla]

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Use All Your Yarn Scraps on This Great Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Next Pattern:

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