Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Sweet Accessories to Stitch for a Little One

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This set of patterns from Lion Brand isn’t necessarily meant to be a set, but I like the look of them all together and a couple of them would make a cute gift for a little one in your life.

The Birthday Pullover is sized for a 12 month, 18 month or two year old child, and the sweet pastel stripes of their Ice Cream yarn makes this sweater simple to knit and fun to wear. The pattern by Amy Gaines includes the option of working surface chain stitch to make it a true birthday sweater, or you can add the child’s name or another word if you’re making it for a different occasion, or no occasion at all.

If you have yarn left over or grab an extra ball you can also make these cute embroidered gift bags, perfect for stashing some sweet little gifts. They also use the Ice Cream yarn, and because the bags are so small you can make about six of them with one ball of yarn. Add embroidery if you like — the pattern suggests a candle, gift box or party hat but doesn’t include images to follow, so you could also do a monogram, the number of the birthday being celebrated, or anything else you like.

Both of these patterns are rated easy, and a baby sweater is a great place to start if you’ve never made a garment before.

This last pattern doesn’t actually go with the other two because it uses different yarn, but I still think it would be cute with the sweater so I’m including it. The Garter Stitch Bonnet is another easy pattern, this time using Feels Like Butta yarn for super softness that’s also machine washable. This pattern has four sizes ranging from newborn to 2 years, so you could make it to go with the sweater or on its own.

It is shown in two colors but you could make it solid if you’d rather. Any or all of these would be so cute to make for your favorite little one.

[Photo: Lion Brand]

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

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.