Personalized Name Winter Toque Knitting Pattern

Looking for a knit gift with a personal touch? How about knitting a hat with the recipient’s name on it?

This simple hat from Fox and Pine Stitches would be lovely all by itself, but you can make it, like, 50 percent cuter by adding an initial, monogram or even a full name (as long as it’s a short one!) to the body of the hat.

The letters are added with duplicate stitch once the hat is finished, so you can stitch a bunch of these up and then decide who you want to give them to and how you want to embellish them.

I love the look of the lettering matching a pompom on top, but you should go with what’s in your heart.

The hat includes sizes for newborns, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-3 years, 4-12 years and adult women.

The pattern calls for Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick, but you can use whatever super bulky yarn you have on hand. The only skills you need for this one are knitting, purling, working a knit 2 together and doing duplicate stitch.

Get the free pattern from Fox and Pine Stitches.

If you’ve never done duplicate stitch before, it’s actually pretty easy. It’s a method of adding graphic designs to the surface of a knitting project by literally sewing over — duplicating — the stitches below.

Duplicate stitch, also known as swiss darning, is a fun and effective tool to have in your colorwork arsenal. There’s a good tutorial at Purl Soho where you can learn the basics.

Check out more patterns using duplicate stitch: the Shape of My Heart Scarf, and this watermelon cushion are both good uses for it. And check out how a little bit of duplicate stitch makes it easier to give your kilt hose a tartan look.

[Photo: Fox and Pine Stitches]

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Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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