Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

KnitBits: Spring Break Edition

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knit bunny from a sqaureIt’s spring break here in Arkansas, so I’ve got a super-short KnitBits for you this week as I get ready to go out on a little hike with my family.

If you need one more quick Easter project to make, or plan to spend some of the weekend teaching a child how to knit, here’s how you make a bunny from a square of Garter Stitch. It’s a perfect first project and a way to keep that first wonky swatch that you’ll actually enjoy looking at. This roundup of square bunny patterns is from BeesDIY.

One reason so many people love knitting in the round is because there aren’t seams to sew up at the end, but the Fringe Association makes a good argument for why you might still want to knit your sleeves flat, even on a top-down sweater worked in the round. The short answer to why is because it’s easier than knitting a small circumference in the round and it adds structure to the sleeves; click through for the how you actually do it.

Finally, OK, this one is crochet, but it’s still awesome. Meet Yolanda Soto-Lopez, a 55-year-old crocheting abuela and YouTube sensation in the crochet crowd. She’s making six figures on her tutorial videos, which can take up to 30 hours to shoot, and she’s racked up more than 70 million page views. Amazing.

Looking for more Easter themed Knitting patterns? Check out these Knitting patterns we found over on Etsy.

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Knit a Pet Bed on a Knitting Machine

I feel like I haven’t shared many knitting machine patterns lately, probably because I haven’t been using my knitting machines much lately. (I finally made space for them to live on the bookshelf in my office, and now that they have a “place” it’s almost like I forgot they existed for a while.)

But I did recently make a little cat bed, that surely would work for a small dog, too. 

This one uses two different sizes of knitting machine: a larger one (it could be any in the 40-48 needle range) and a 22 pin. 

The larger machine is used in flat panel mode to make the bottom pillow like part of the bed, while the smaller machine makes a long tube that is used around the edges as the sort of walls of the cat bed. 

For stuffing I used a bit of leftover quilt batting for the pillow, and some cut up old T-shirts for the tube. 

You can use any worsted weight yarn you like (I used two colors of Big Twist Pound+, which comes in huge skeins that weigh more than a pound). Acrylic or cotton yarn is nice for washablity, but you’ll be cranking for a while so make sure you use a yarn your machine likes so it’s not too much of a struggle. 

You can grab the pattern for this cat bed over at Our Daily Craft. I’m sorry to report the pictured is as close as a cat has gotten to it so far, but maybe your cats like to be cozy more than mine do?

If you’re looking for more options for cute handmade places for your cats and little dogs to rest, check out this roundup of knit pet beds. I still want to knit one by hand but the machine version was definitely a faster option (especially good since my cats are ungrateful).