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:

Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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Have you read?

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