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:

I know that my posts can be read at different times of year and in different years by different people, but as I write this we’re on teh cusp of summer. And I know a lot of people don’t knit as much, and certainly don’t wear a lot of knits in the summer, but I want to encourage you to make and to wear your makes no matter the temperature.

To introduce you to the joys of summer garment knitting, I offer the Tied Vest from Lion Brand Yarn.

This easy project is great to make and wear throughout the year but it’s especially good for summer. It’s worked flat in one piece from the bottom up, mostly in stockinette stitch with a seed stitch edging. The I-cord ties are worked directly onto the garment so you don’t have to sew them on.

The project uses worsted weight yarn, and calls for a blend of cotton and hemp that’s great for warm weather.

There are eight size options, ranging from a finished chest measurement of 35 to 62.5 inches, or 89 to 159 cm. That makes it sound like it should be worn with at least a few inches of positive ease, but the pattern doesn’t specify.

The ties at the front give it a casual look and make it great to wear over a tank top or T-shirt when the weather is warm.

I also think this one would be good to knit in wool or a warmer fiber, too, to make a version you could wear more comfortably in the winter months, too. Though of course you could layer the summer version over a long-sleeved shirt and wear it throughout the year, too.

The tied vest is a free pattern available from Lion Brand. You can also purchase a kit that includes the yarn and optional needles and stitch markers if you need them.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

Knit an Easy Hooded Vest

Knit Vests to Help Transition to Warmer Weather

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