Improve Your Knitting Skills!

Are you interested in taking up knitting as a hobby? Have you made a couple of dishcloths and are looking to move onto a more difficult pattern? Whether you’re a beginner or a casual knitter looking to advance your knitting skills, below we have a list of patterns that will help you stretch your skills and improve your knitting.

Blankets are great projects to make if you’re looking to advance your knitting skills. Since they tend to be larger than scarves and sweaters, blanket patterns are great for learning new stitches and continuously practicing by following a stitch repeat.

 

Beginner Knitting Project

If you’re a beginner knitter and you’ve learned some of the basics; like casting on, the knit stitch and the purl stitch then the Get Fresh Throw is a great blanket project to help you improve your knitting skills! If you haven’t learned the knitting basics we’ve got plenty of tutorials on our YouTube channel to help, so make sure you subscribe to our channel here.

The Get Fresh Throw is a simple design to knit. This knit blanket pattern calls for Bernat Blanket, a great chunky chenille like yarn that works up fast, giving you the satisfaction of seeing your first knit project quickly come to life! This knit throw is worked up in garter stitch which is a great stitch for beginners to practice the necessary muscle memory to learn to knit effortlessly. Knitting easy garter stitch makes the color changes in this knit throw a little more manageable for a beginner. Once you’ve done a couple of rows you can easily work in a color change, to learn how to change colors check out our video tutorial below.

Learn how to change colors in our video tutorial below.

 

Advanced Beginner Knit Project

If you’ve already knit your first project and you’re comfortable with the garter stitch, then this next blanket will help take your knitting skills up a notch! The Quiet Times Knit Afghan combines knit, purl and slip stitches to create a texture that looks more complicated than it really is. As is the case with most patterns when knitting, don’t let the pattern overwhelm you. A pattern is an instructional map and if you follow along properly you’ll be amazed at what you can knit! The great part about this knit blanket pattern is that it calls for you to use stitch markers which are great tools to start using as you move onto more complicated patterns.

If you’re feeling comfortable enough and have done a couple of patterns which call for different stitch combinations, then you’re ready for the next step. The Honeycomb Stripes Knit Blanket uses skills seen in the previous two patterns; color changes, knit, purl and slip stitches. However, in this knit blanket you’ll learn to follow a multi-row repeat to create the distinct and impressive honeycomb pattern. This knit blanket pattern will really help you stretch your knitting skills, by not only working a multi-row repeat of knit, purl and slip stitches but also learning to pick up stitches to finish the border of this knit blanket. You can watch a quick tutorial showing you how to pick up stitches below. Picking up stitches is also a useful knitting skill often used in making knit garments.

Learn how to pick up stitches in our video tutorial below.

Another great knit blanket that will help you build a foundation of knitting skills to tackle any project is the Catch Some Waves Blanket. This knit blanket will use your colorwork experience and skills following multi-row patterns, while letting you practice knitting increases and decreases to create a classic knit chevron blanket. Perfecting your knitting increases and decreases is essential for constructing knit garments and will help you as you move onto more intricate blanket motifs.

 

Intermediate Knitting Project

If you’re an advanced knitter looking for a more challenging knit blanket project to work on, then the Diamond in the Rough Knit Blanket is your next project. This knit blanket pattern includes a charted lace motif pattern to help you visually read your work. You’ll learn what different types of decreases look like by working on mirrored decreases, and you’ll also learn how to knit yarn over increases.

You can also watch the pattern tutorial for this intermediate knit blanket below.

We hope you find these knit blanket patterns great practice for your knitting skills! You’ll not only improve your knitting with these projects but also end up with beautiful blankets to keep or gift. If you’re looking to continue practicing to knit and creating more knit projects, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel! We create new video tutorials every month, so you’ll have lots of videos to help show you how to either knit through a pattern or develop new knitting skills.