Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Make a Sweater to Dupe a Fashion Brand

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Free People is known for its casual, boho look, and sometimes spendy styles that cause knitters and crocheters to say “I can make that!”

Amanda Solomon was inspired by the fashions of Free People to design her Dupe Sweater, which looks like something they would carry. (I cannot confirm it’s a direct dupe but it looks like several things on their website.) The pattern is meant to embrace the effortless style Free People is known for while providing knitters with an effortless, meditative knit.

Her version is made with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together for a marled look. It’s worked in the round from the top down and has deep drop shoulders that go almost down to the elbow, and an oversized fit for a casual and comfy look. The sleeves look to be about three-quarter length, but you could make them longer if you want.

It has a faux seam up the center front of the sweater, and it looks like there might be seams on the sleeves as well (I’d guess there’s probably also one on the back but no photos show the back).

The pattern is available in nine sizes, but the pattern information on Ravelry doesn’t give the measurements, it only says that the pattern fits from XS to 5XL. If any of you happen to have a copy or buy a copy of this pattern and want to let me know the chest measurements, I’d love to add them to this post.

If you don’t have a bunch of fingering weight yarn sitting around to make this sweater with, you could also work with a single strand of DK weight. Or mix and match a bunch of leftover yarn with a single solid color held together for a cool marled effect.

You can grab your copy of this pattern from Ravelry.

[Photo: Amanda Solomon]

A Perfect Sweater to Knit if You’re New to Knitting Sweaters

 

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Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

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.