Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Play with Easy Eyelets with the Zeffira Knitting Pattern

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The other day I shared a pattern (the Igneous Sweater) where the stitch pattern fades out to Stockinette Stitch as you knit.

The Zeffira Top from Susanna IC starts with a dense eyelet diamond pattern that fades up to single eyelets by the top of the top.

It looks kind of complex but it’s all just yarn overs and knit two togethers. The pattern has a split hem but is otherwise worked in the round for a sleek, seamless fit.

The pattern has seven different sizes up to 54 inches, and you can choose the amount of ease you prefer for your perfect summer knit.

This was originally designed for a Bluprint kit and is now available on Ravelry for $7.

[Photo: Bluprint.]

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Knit a Pet Bed on a Knitting Machine

I feel like I haven’t shared many knitting machine patterns lately, probably because I haven’t been using my knitting machines much lately. (I finally made space for them to live on the bookshelf in my office, and now that they have a “place” it’s almost like I forgot they existed for a while.)

But I did recently make a little cat bed, that surely would work for a small dog, too. 

This one uses two different sizes of knitting machine: a larger one (it could be any in the 40-48 needle range) and a 22 pin. 

The larger machine is used in flat panel mode to make the bottom pillow like part of the bed, while the smaller machine makes a long tube that is used around the edges as the sort of walls of the cat bed. 

For stuffing I used a bit of leftover quilt batting for the pillow, and some cut up old T-shirts for the tube. 

You can use any worsted weight yarn you like (I used two colors of Big Twist Pound+, which comes in huge skeins that weigh more than a pound). Acrylic or cotton yarn is nice for washablity, but you’ll be cranking for a while so make sure you use a yarn your machine likes so it’s not too much of a struggle. 

You can grab the pattern for this cat bed over at Our Daily Craft. I’m sorry to report the pictured is as close as a cat has gotten to it so far, but maybe your cats like to be cozy more than mine do?

If you’re looking for more options for cute handmade places for your cats and little dogs to rest, check out this roundup of knit pet beds. I still want to knit one by hand but the machine version was definitely a faster option (especially good since my cats are ungrateful).