Textured Knitting Adds Depth to this Hat/Cowl Duo

Textured stitch patterns are a lot of fun because they make a project look more interesting — and sometimes more difficult — without really being any more difficult to knit. It also can be fun to throw in stripes on top of textured to get a different look without any more work.

The Runo Hat and Cowl set from Reis Luke Aquino is inspired by the textures on fish traps used in the Philippines. The patterns use worsted weight yarn and offer suggestions for using different yarns and adding stripes.

The stitch pattern would also be fun to use on a blanket or pillow, and you can use one or two or many different colors to further highlight the pattern.

Get more info and your copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

Check out these books dedicated to Knitted Cowl Patterns still looking for more cowl patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

[Photo: Reis Luke Aquino.]

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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