Cute Knits for Kiddos

There are so many cute knitting patterns out there for kids, it makes me wish I could spend all my days just knitting for my girl (she thinks all I do all day is sit around and knit and sew; I wish that were true!).

Here are a few adorable projects for little ones that have caught my eye lately if you’re in the market for some knitting for wee humans.

Need to knit a baby blanket? This simple bias garter stitch blanket from Ewe Ewe Yarns (PDF; designed by Heather Walpole) is really pretty and easy even for a new knitter.

I love Lion Brand’s Colorful Cardigan and Hat. This project uses a solid color and a bag of Vanna’s Palettes, which is a great way to add a little color to a project without having to buy big balls of each color. You could also make this a stash-busting project and use a different little odd ball for each color, if you’d rather.

The Imperial Yarn Baby Cardigan and Cascade Cardigan are two free patterns offered by Love Knitting (free registration required). They both have a bit of lace and are just darling for little ones.

Know a little one who needs a hat? Jamie from Everyday Art took a pattern she found online for a baby and little kid sized earflap hat (the original is from Hey Julie), made it bigger for her daughter, added stripes and developed her own darling ear flap hat. If my daughter didn’t already have a striped hat I would totally knit her this one. So cute!

Anything here catch your eye? Are you working on any pint-sized projects? I’d love to hear about it!

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns.

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn.

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options.

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners.

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set.

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn.

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers.

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.

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