Knit Along with Kaffe Fassett

Rowan is getting set to launch its second mystery knitalong project on Oct. 1, and this time the designer behind the fun is color master Kaffe Fassett.

Rowan’s brand manager, Kate Butler, says in a video about the project that the aim was to get more people knitting in “the Kaffe way,” which isn’t difficult knitting, just a lot of color.

“I only go for the most basic techniques,” he says in the video, “but it’s really extravagant in color.”

The projects involve multicolored squares, and you can choose to make an afghan, a small cushion, an oblong cushion or all three. Four colorways have been selected by Fassett for the project. Each one uses 10 different colors, and you can download the shopping list now (it’s a PDF) if you’re interested in the project.

It uses Rowan Pure Wool Worsted, which is machine washable and worsted weight, so whatever it is you’re making will be colorful, durable and get a lot of use for years to come.

The project will run through Dec. 19 and includes instructional videos by Fassett and designer Sarah Hatton.

If you decide to take part, I’d love to hear about it!

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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