Make Your Own Knit Cardigan, Block by Block

I love knitting patterns that give you a lot of options. It’s almost a step between following a pattern and designing something yourself, where you get to make some of the decisions but you don’t have to do the math for yourself. The result is a mostly unique design that you didn’t have to design yourself, which is perfect for people who don’t want to design a garment from scratch but still might like some variations.

The Building Blocks Cardi pattern from Aimee Sher is a great example of this. It’s a worsted weight cardigan with a V-neck and optional bust darts, but the options don’t stop there.

You can make it a vest, which has short sleeves, or long sleeved. Make it whatever length you like and choose a straight hem or a high-low hemline. You can add one pocket, two, or none as you like.

Beyond all those options, there are 11 sizes to choose from, ranging from an upper bust measurement of 31 to 63.5 inches. The sweater has built in positive ease so the actual garment measurements range from 38.5 to 79 inches.

The pieces are worked flat from the bottom up, and includes shaping for the armholes so they fall nicely off the shoulder (which is why the vest has short sleeves). A three-needle bind off is used to join the pieces at the top.

There’s even an eight page PDF you can check out before you buy the pattern that includes detailed yardage information, sizing tips, information on special techniques used in the project (including German short rows and special cast ons and bind offs) and detailed schematic drawings and size charts so you can ensure the perfect fit for you. (The schematics are also included as images in the listing on Ravelry.)

Check out all the details and grab your own copy on Ravelry.

[Photo: Aimee Sher.]

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One great thing to knit when the weather is warm (or honestly any other time) is dishcloths and washcloths. They are fun and easy projects and a great way to play with new skills. Pretty washcloths make cleaning a tiny bit more fun, and they’re great to have on hand as a quick addition to a store-bought gift.

The Daisy Delight Dishcloth from Yarnspirations is a fun one for using leftover bits of green in your cotton yarn stash. What looks like the bottom in the picture is actually the left side as you knit it, and each little color section is worked with its own ball of yarn, intarsia style.

That’s a little fiddly for a washcloth, but the effect is cute, and it’s a simple way to learn the basics of intarsia knitting (as well as reading a chart) if you don’t already have those skills.

One the knitting is done, you add the flowers with a bit of lazy daisy embroidery, which is really easy to do even if you’re not that into embroidery. You could also potentially add flowers in duplicate stitch if you’d rather.

This may be the most work you’ve put into a dishcloth, but isn’t it adorable? It would be fun to use as a hand towel through the spring and summer, and if you already have some leftover green yarn from other projects it should be pretty easy to do.

You could also take this same concept and make it different colors. All dark green stems with stars on top might be reminiscent of Christmas trees, or brown with daisy stitch on top in different colors could be trees in the fall.

However you stitch it, this looks like a fun little project for knitters who are comfortable with intarsia and reading charts or who are ready to try those skills.

You can grab the free pattern from Yarnspirations.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

Book Review – Dishcloths for Special Days [Knitting]

Book Review – Holiday Knit Dishcloths

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