Free Pattern: Sweet Tee

It’s really fun to knit for little kids, but they grow so fast that you don’t really want to spend too much time on a project for a little one because they might only get to wear it a few times before it’s too small (or, let’s face it, stained).

That’s why this cute little Sweet Tee pattern from Down Cloverlaine is so great. It’s a pretty straightforward top-down raglan with a placket in the back to make putting on and taking off a little easier. It’s mostly worked in the round in stockinette stitch, with little textured heart embellishments at the center front and above the hem. You could of course leave those out and it would be a great project for a boy, too.

Worked in cotton on size 4 and 6 US needles (3.5 and 4 mm) it will go pretty quickly. This pattern is one-size only, which she says is for a 6 to 9 month old (18 inch chest measurement). The good news is it’s relatively easy to adjust a raglan to another size, just keep increasing until you have the chest measurement you need (and remember to make it longer, too!).

[Photo by Elaine Fitzpatrick/Down Cloverlaine.]

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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.

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