Looking Ahead to 2014

Lion Brand Yarn has released its predictions for the state of knitting in 2014. Based on the recent arm knitting trend, they call for more huge knits, as well as more yarn that does the work for us and more personalization of projects.

Pantone says we’ll be seeing orchid everywhere next year, and this pretty purple is a great shade for knitting and other crafts.

Another big trend Lion Brand and others are predicting is the increasing popularity of knit hats. Which makes sense, because hats are usually pretty quick and easy to knit, simple to personalize with different colors and patterns, and you can knit up a bunch to suit all your winter (and spring, and fall) styles without a huge outlay in time or supplies.

What do you think the world of knitting holds in the new year? Personally, I’m holding onto the colorwork trend (since I’m working on a book on the subject). I’d love to hear what you think.

[Photo via Lion Brand Yarn.]

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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