Quick Knitting Throws and Afghans

It may not quite be the season for snuggling up under a big blanket in the Northern Hemisphere, but let’s be honest, it’s going to be air conditioning season soon and then you’ll need blankets all over again.

Leisure Arts recently released two little booklets that will help you knit afghans and throws (is there really a difference?) in a jiffy.

Quick Throws to Knit by Rena V. Stevens has four patterns, one for each season. They’re all sampler projects, worked in panels or strips in different colors and types of yarn and in different stitch patterns. This would be a great book to work from if you have a large stash of yarn in similar colors that you’re looking to knit up into one fantastic project.

Rita Weiss’ Make in a Weekend Afghans to Knit has 10 projects, including baby blankets and larger designs for the whole family. They all use the same stitch pattern all over, though some include stripes or are worked in panels of different colors to make it a little more interesting. They’re mostly easy patterns worked on bigger needles so they go pretty quickly.

Either of these books would offer good inspiration if you are ready for a quick and easy stash-busting project or you need to make a blanket for a gift.

Don’t forget to join our Exclusive Knitting Group on Facebook. With over 25 Vintage knitting patterns available to download immediately. Subscription to this group is the cost of a single vintage pattern.

Specifically for knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get the latest knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next in our online community.

Looking for more Baby Knitting patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns.

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn.

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options.

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners.

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set.

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn.

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers.

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.

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