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]

As we get into the part of the year with a lot of food-forward holidays, it might be time to start thinking about knitting some new things for your table. While a few of these are more fall/Thanksgiving focused, just changing up the colors would make others work for Christmas, or keep it neutral and use them all year long.

What got me started thinking about this was the lovely and simple Fresh Bread Dishtowel, a free pattern from Purl Soho. Worked in a lovely cotton and linen blend, the towel is mostly stockinette stitch with a bit of texture on the borders.

You could use this same kind of pattern to make anything from placemats to a table runner, but let’s look at some specific patterns for those kinds of projects as well.

The easy moss stitch table runner from Glass Bird Knits is beginner friendly can can easily be modified to fit your table (or, again, to make placemats instead of or in addition to a runner). This version is worked in macrame cord, but you could also use bulky yarn.

Emielle Design has a garter stitch runner pattern that’s made with braided cotton cord for a lot of texture without a lot of work. But be sure to take a lot of breaks when knitting with cord because it can be rough on your hands!

I also love the diamond pattern on the Hamilton Table Runner from Wyndlestraw Designs. It calls for a DK weight cotton and linen blend yarn and comes in three sizes with different widths and lengths. The pattern has both written and charted instructions.

Amy Marie’s Table Pumpkins (on Ravelry) is a fun mosaic knitting pattern that would be great to use as a table runner through the fall and for Thanksgiving. It uses a worsted weight cotton yarn in two colors, and you can make it as long as you like for your table.

The no cable knit placemats from Yarn Culture Studio have a fun faux cable look that would be great for the table through the fall and winter.

Or here’s another pattern from Wyndlestraw Designs, this time for an easy knit and purl stitch placemat pattern that looks different but still good on both sides. It calls for worsted weight cotton and comes in two sizes for placemats, but also has instructions for coasters, a hot pad and a table pad all using the same stitch.

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