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:

If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

Next Pattern:

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