Gift Knits from the New Knitty

The latest issue of Knitty just dropped the other day, so I thought it might be fun to highlight some patterns you still have time to knit for gifts, if you’re still in the market for some.

The Skew Too fingerless mitts from Eva Landeo use a gorgeous, colorful yarn, a fun technique to make the knitting and the finished mitt more interesting, and they’re mostly worked in a flat piece of bias knitting, with cuffs and thumb added after, so they should be pretty quick to knit.

There’s also a mitten pattern, Instant Mash from Kate Atherley’s newest book (which is all about mittens). They’re worked in bulky yarn for quick progress, and mittens don’t have nearly the fiddly bits that gloves do, and actually keep your hands warmer.

Laura Chau’s Fallingbrook is a hat and mitten set with fun cable patterns that will make it feel like these knit fast because you’ll want to keep going to see how it all turns out. And the Tiina hat pattern from Katrin Kolnes is another one that will be fun to knit because of the great cable pattern, but it’s easy because it’s worked flat with no shaping. Just seam it up the side and cinch the top when you’re done!

Amy Palmer’s Ceibo is a kind of bolero/cropped sweater that’s a cardigan styled so it opens in the back, keeping more of your core warm. It would be great for all sorts of layering occasions this winter, and it comes in a variety of sizes.

Maybe my favorite is the tiny Kate’s Kitten pattern from Anna Hrachovec. It’s an itsy version of Kate by Jess Hutchinson, a sweet, pants-wearing kitty published by Knitty back in 2005. You’ve probably still got time to knit both of them for gifting. So cute!

[Photo: Anna Hrachovec via Knitty.]

Looking for more knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get, well, knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next.

Looking for Yarn online? Check out Lionbrand our preferred source for purchasing yarn online.

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

Comments

Have you read?