Knit a Little Easter Basket

There are a lot of patterns that I knit back when I wrote for About.com (does anyone even remember About.com?) that either can’t be found any more or can’t be found without a lot of digging through the Internet Archive.

I’m working this year on bringing some of those patterns back because I liked them, and they are often good, basic, skill-building patterns that I think people would enjoy making.

Such is the case with this little Easter basket.

I remember having so much fun knitting the first one (I took it to an event and knit the whole thing in a day) and when I was looking around for Easter knitting patterns to share, I realized I couldn’t find it anywhere. It was so far gone I had never even made a Raverly page for it!

Well all that has been resolved now. I found the old basket but I also knit a new one using yarn you can still buy (good old Lily Sugar’n Cream, but any worsted weight cotton is great for this one). I also made the new one a little bigger, partly on purpose and partly because my gauge came out a little different on the second one.

I still had a good time knitting it, and I still made it in a couple of hours over the course of a day.

These delightful little baskets are great for holding a little Easter candy on your desk, or use them all year long in the bathroom to hold cotton balls or swabs, or anywhere else you want to hold little things in a cute way.

You can grab the free pattern at Our Daily Craft, and I’m happy to report I finally made it a page on Ravelry, too, if you want to add it to your queue!

Next Pattern:

Knitters are always looking for ways to continue to knit and to wear their knits even when it’s hot outside, so there are tots of great T0shirt knitting patterns to choose from. I love knitting short-sleeved shirts because they feel so much faster than sweaters, and you can wear them on top of dresses or even longer-sleeved items when it gets cooler.

There are lots of different styles of knit tops, from the basic to the more detailed. On the more basic side are things like the Perfect T-Shirt from Originally Lovely, a basic raglan tee with nine sizes and worked in worsted weight yarn; Paper Bloom by Yvonne Hugo (free on Ravelry), available in six sizes and worked with cotton and silk yarn for extra coolness; or Iris H’s Amelia Top, also on Ravelry, a slim fit, DK weight top with nine size.

Jazz it up with a bit of lace like on the Athens Lace Hem top by Sarah Hatton (Ravelry). This otherwise simple project has a bit of lace at the bottom, which is an easy way to make a project more interesting without a ton of work. This one uses fingering weight yarn and comes in nine sizes.

Another simple embellishment is to emphasize the lines of your top with different stitches. The Spring Lines top uses twisted ribbing at the center front and V-neck and along the raglan lines to give it a slimmer fit and more interest. This design from Turquoise Toque Designs has 11 size options and is available on Ravelry.

Silfurberg by Joji Locatelli uses both of these elements, with lace panels at the center front and back and purl ridges throughout to make it a little more fun to knit and to wear. The pattern uses fingering weight yarn and comes in 10 sizes. Learn more on Ravelry.

Keep it simple or add puffed sleeves (and/or long sleeves) to the slim fit Knitty Committee top by Lily Kate France. This one has two length options, waist shaping and optional bust darts to fulfill all your curvy top dreams, and it comes in nine sizes. You’ll find it on Ravelry.

Take it even more romantic with the Daphne Top from Friday Knits, which has puffed sleeves and applied I-cord to emphasize the bust and sweetheart neckline. It comes in eight sizes and uses DK weight yarn.

Or add some sweet flowers with the Gigio pattern from Emilie Luis. This pretty pattern found on Ravelry has cable panels running up the front with the option for adding sweet embroidered flowers. You can also add decorative buttons if you like. It comes in 11 sizes and calls for sport weight yarn.

Next Pattern:

Have you read?