Book Review: Drop-Dead Easy Knits

By the title alone, I think a lot of people are going to be interested in this book. Drop-Dead Easy Knits by Gale Zucker, Mary Lou Egan and Kirsten Kapur is the result of a bunch of knitters being in real life friends and thinking about the kinds of knitting projects they like to do in different situations.

The projects are designed for those different events, like being in a waiting room, travelling, wanting something warm to work on when the weather is cool, knitting with friends that doesn’t require paying attention to your work.

In this case easy doesn’t mean plain. It’s more projects that can be worked often with limited attention through parts of the process but that still produce things that you’ll enjoy knitting, wearing, using or gifting.

The projects are arranged by theme: cold hands, warm heart (knitting while it’s cold or for the cold); the waiting game (projects for picking up and putting down); drinking buddies (perfect for knit night and for gifting to friends); family entanglements (things to knit at holiday get-togethers or when teaching kids to knit); bursting with joy (baby knits); and no sheep at the shore (projects for beach knitting and wearing).

The projects are rated by how much attention they require and the patterns are marked where you need to pay more attention, which is handy.

I’m not finding the book on Ravelry yet but you can get a sneak peek at the publisher’s website.

Some of my favorites include the cozy Camurac Cardigan, sure to become a wear-everywhere favorite; the Keynote Pullover, which features a simple textured yoke but is otherwise straight knitting; the Star-Eyed Julep Throw, designed by the Mason-Dixon knitters to be worked in four pieces (possibly by four different people) and joined together at the end; the Apple Hill Finger Puppets, a perfect first project for a pint-sized knitter; the adorable Bear in a Bunny Suit by Susan B. Anderson; and the sweet Pompano Tank, with eyelets at the hem and a swingy style.

These projects are fun, pretty, great for gifts, relatively easy to knit but don’t look like beginner projects.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback with interior flaps, 30 patterns (I actually counted 29, 7 rated mindless, 20 relaxed and 2 attentive). Published September 2016, Clarkson Potter, suggested retail $16.99.

Looking for more knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get, well, knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next.

Looking for Yarn online? Check out Lionbrand our preferred source for purchasing yarn online.

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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