Set the Table for Breakfast with Knitting

I guess I’ve got food-related knitting on the brain lately! After sharing the pretzel and macaron pillows the other day, here’s another fun food knitting project for you.

Play with your food and then set the table with it, with help from the Breakfast of Champions set from Knit Picks. Designed by Joyce Fassbender, this three-piece set includes a fried egg placemat, a napkin that’s a piece of toast complete with a pat of butter, and an orange slice-inspired cup cozy.

The set is rated as being for intermediate knitters and uses sport weight cotton blend yarn (Knit Picks Shine Sport, to be precise).

I say you get to play with your food on this one because each component of the project uses different skills, so you can learn something new or just use some different techniques you might not need every day.

For example the egg is worked in the round from the center out, requiring even increases at intervals to ensure it stays round. The napkin has a bit of intarsia around the edges (a little hard to see in the photo) that makes the crust of the bread, and it looks like the butter is stitched separately and sewn on. It might be fun to add a bit of jam instead of butter if you’re making a set, so each person in the family can have their own color or what they like best on their toast.

The coffee cup cozy uses a bit of stranded knitting to make the orange slices.

These patterns are just so cute and I think they’d bring just the amount of whimsy you need to get through a tough morning. You can grab the free pattern on Knit Picks’ website, or the pattern is also available as part of their Keeping Home ebook, which includes a bunch of sets of projects for the home.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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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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