Check out These Booklets Full of Knit Holiday Cheer

It might be a little late to order these books from Leisure Arts to make something for this Christmas, but they’d be a great gift for the knitter in your life (or you) who loves to knit things for the holidays.

The Stockings Were Knit by Mickey Landau includes eight cute stocking patterns: one with a dog theme and a cat theme, one with a cool textured colorwork cuff, one decorated with bells, one with herringbone and a bit of lace (pictured on the cover), on covered with snowflakes, one with a snowy scene and one with a gingerbread man (see some of them on Ravelry). They’re all really cute and best for intermediate knitters.

Beaded Ornaments is a collection of 12 knit balls, with beads worked in different designs, made to slip over a ball ornament (the page on Ravelry is for an older version, but the patterns are the same). There are a variety of designs here including hearts, crosses, zigzags, stripes and diamonds. Because they are worked in the round and include beads, all the patterns are rated intermediate, but they aren’t really that difficult.

Either of these books would be fun to start knitting for next year or to whip up a quick ornament or two for gifts this year.

Are you done with your gift knitting yet? I’d love to hear what you’re working on.

Looking for more Christmas themed Knitting patterns? Check out some of our favorite Knitting patterns on Etsy and

These Christmas Knitting Pattern Books on Amazon

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Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

40+ Hot Pads You Can Sew For The Kitchen [Sewing]

A Cozy Knit to Calm Your Mind

Double Knit an Infinity Scarf

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