Knit Your New Favorite Everyday Sweater

I have knit a lot of sweaters through the years, and there are some that are decidedly in heavier rotation than others. You’d think it might be the fancy ones, the ones that were a lot of work, maybe even ones I designed that I’m really proud of.

I do have and wear all of those sorts of sweaters, of course, but my favorite sweaters for everyday are simple. They’re usually solid colors or a single colorway if it’s a multicolored yarn. They are mostly sweaters I would describe as being like the knit version of a sweatshirt. They’re easy to wear and generally were pretty easy to knit as well.

I feel like the Phumeza sweater from Noma Ndlovu at Bigger than Life Knits would definitely fit into both the easy to knit and easy to wear category. It’s a top down, drop sleeve sweater that’s mostly stockinette with garter ridges for added interest in the knitting and texture in the wearing. There are two different neckline options so you can decide if you want it higher or lower. The sleeves are wide and comfortable for layering. I would say it’s just slightly cropped, but that could just be because I like longer sweaters and this is a fine normal length for the average person.

The pattern comes in 11 sizes, and there’s a schematic in the pattern notes for the pattern on Ravelry but I’m having trouble reading it. It looks like it goes up to 72 inches/183 cm for the finished chest circumference, and I actually can’t read the smallest so if you can read it better than I can or if you get the pattern and can see the schematic in it, let me know and I’ll update this post.

You can grab the free pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Bigger than Life Knits]

Vintage Boys Sweaters To Knit And Crochet

A Few Simple Sweaters for Gift Knitting

This Handy Flow Chart Helps You Decide Who to Knit Sweaters For

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.

Have you read?