Knits for the Home for Spring

April 6, 2015 by Sarah White

There’s something about the coming of spring that makes you want to change things up around the house, right? Whether you get the feeling you want to repaint a room (I’m thinking hard about upgrading my beige office) or you want to sew some new pillows for the couch, now is a great time to get going on projects for the home.

Of course there are a lot of great things you can knit to make your house a little more cozy and ready for spring. Here are a few projects that have crossed my radar lately to get you thinking.

The Cable Me Cozy Pillow Cover from Carla Smith for Knit Picks is a little heavy looking, but it’s fine knitting for these spring days when it’s still a little cool mornings and evenings. The yarn used is a cozy alpaca and wool blend that will take you through all the seasons, and bright colors like red, green and blue are perfect for jazzing up the couch any time of year.

I have always wanted to knit a curtain, and the cute little cafe curtain from Berroco called Christine’s Curtains (designed by Emily Nora O’Neil) would be a great one to try. It’s lacy so it lets some light in while still offering a bit of protection from the sun, and it’s a great way to show the world — or at least all your house guests — that you’re a knitter.

Of course spring is all about spring cleaning, too, and if you’re going to have to clean you might as well make it a little fun. I love knit dishcloths and washcloths for this very reason, and the Citrus Slice Dishcloth from Yarnspirations is a great way to bring a little cheer to any cleaning job. It’s worked in a spiral with a little contrasting yarn for the slices, and it’s sure to bring a smile to your face no matter what cleaning task you’re up against.

Do you ever knit projects for your home? I’d love to hear about it!

Have you read?

Easy Knit Baskets to Use All Your Stash

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.