Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Join Me at the Holiday Crafts Summit

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Are you ready for holiday crafting? I’ve been doing a lot for Halloween lately so I haven’t given much thought to the winter holidays, but they will be here quicker than we imagine.

If you’re ready to get started on your holiday crafting list, whether you’re looking for decor for your home or easy gifts to make and give, you’ll want to check out the Rebecca Page holiday crafts summit.

This free summit takes place Oct. 16-20 and offers 44 classes in knitting, crochet, paper crafts, embroidery and sewing. I’m teaching two classes, one of which is for knitters.

My class is about knit headbands and earwarmers. In this class you’ll learn how to make custom headbands and ear warmers using any weight of yarn you like, any stitch pattern you want and whatever size you need.

I demonstrate working projects flat and in the round, sewing them flat or with a twist, or using a cable to make the twist. The hope is that this will give you ideas to make the perfect headband/ear warmer for yourself or to give as a gift.

There’s another knitting class that I’m not teaching, for a knit Santa gift bag that is just so cute!

My other class is a sewing class, which shows you how to make a couple of simple and useful gifts for the reader in your life: a pillow case with a pocket to hold your book (or notebook, pens, highlighters, reading glasses, etc.) and a book weight to help hold the book open so you don’t have to. Because I love to read and knit at the same time, which I can’t do if I’m holding the book open!

Each day through the summit a number of classes are released and available for viewing each day. You can also sign up for a VIP pass to get lifetime access to all courses, plus three classes that are only available through the VIP ticket. I hope you’ll join me to learn all about these quick, easy and fun to make gift ideas!

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

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.