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November and December are traditionally busy months here at Ysolda. We know folks start looking for Christmas gift knitting ideas as the colder weather rolls in and for those who celebrate Christmas, handmade gifts may even become part of the festive tradition. Creating knitted gifts for teachers, family and loved ones does have a certain charm especially as knitters with the skills and resources to make this a reality! A word of caution though- not all recipients are knitworthy and stressing ourselves out to be as productive as possible is a true joy stealer!
We’ve put together a list of some of our favourite knitted gift ideas for the different recipients in your life with the reminder that knitting time is often a rare and precious treat in a busy week so make sure you enjoy it!
For those who celebrate Christmas, a stocking to fill or simply hang to decorate is a sweet way to bring your maker identity into festive traditions. Ysolda designed a knitted Christmas stocking pattern a few years ago and they make a great stashbusting project. Charts are included for all 26 letters, a tree, snowflake and a bird.
https://ysolda.com/products/last-minute-stockings
Find it on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/last-minute-stockings
One person’s plain knit sock is another’s Everest to climb so we find it a little tricky to state confidently what makes for an easy knitting experience! However, may we suggest Tombreck, our free knitted hat pattern? Tombreck is perfect for new knitters as this easy hat pattern uses only knits and purls to create the fun textured chevrons!
https://ysolda.com/blogs/journal/free-beanie-pattern
Find it on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tombreck
If there’s one thing we know, it’s that people cannot resist welcoming little ones into the joyfully soft world of hand knitted baby clothes and toys! Our best selling knitting pattern for babies remains the Wee Envelope, a gender neutral baby sweater with a wide overlapping neck that makes for easy dressing.
https://ysolda.com/collections/baby/products/wee-envelope
Find it on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wee-envelope
Sometimes you want something you can achieve in just one single skein. If it’s a special skein, may we suggest Poza, a beautiful cowl where chevrons meet smaller detailing throughout. This is the cowl to try out that precious skein from an indie dyer you’ve always admired. It’s a treat to knit so make it double the joy with something a little luxe!
https://ysolda.com/products/poza
Find it on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/poza
If this is your criteria because you’re trying to fit in a last minute knitted gift, can we urge you to stop, step away from your needles and think about why you’re putting yourself (and wrists) under that pressure? If however you’re just hoping for something small and satisfying, we can recommend the Kaerlig mittens that use only a small amount of fingering weight yarn. Due to the interesting construction, they require minimal finishing and fiddling with fingers and thumbs too.
https://ysolda.com/products/kaerlig
Find them on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/krlig
We have some pretty cute knitting patterns for toys and Poklon is one of our favourites. Poklon is the wee pup who featured in Ysolda’s first Knitworthy collection, a design collection that focuses on gift knitting. There’s now 40 patterns to choose from and Poklon pops up on knitter’s needles time and time again.
https://ysolda.com/products/poklon
Find Poklon on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/poklon
Well, this is where we want to ask a lot of questions about who gets to decide what counts as neutral versus feminine or masculine…. there’s a lot to unpack. If you’re looking for something that the wearer would feel they didn’t have to perform any particular gender identity though, we’d recommend Hiraeth, a knitted scarf pattern that works for everyone.
https://ysolda.com/products/hiareth
Find it on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hiraeth–2
Want something that looks very impressive but is actually an easy colourwork knitting pattern? Meet Pyukkleen, an excellent first stranded colour work pattern with its geometric patterns, short floats and lack of steeking. It uses up lots of small colours too so is a great project to cast on from the leftovers of your colourwork yoke sweater too.
https://ysolda.com/collections/cowls/products/pyukkleen
Find it on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pyukkleen
We get it because we hear this a lot “I want something handknit but I don’t want it to look handmade”. One thing we want to urge is for you to explore who is truly worthy of your knitting time. Who is valuing the production that goes into clothing and fashion? When we knit, we reconnect with that process and in a world where climate justice is becoming increasingly urgent and vital? Knit for those that truly connect with this super skill of production. Maybe gift knitting lessons to help this recipient connect with a process they’ve become so disconnected from instead….?
Looking for even more knitted gift ideas? We’ve got a whole design collection with you in mind. Ysolda’s Knitworthy collection spans 5 years of design work and includes 40 designs aimed to be fun to knit with beautiful results. You can view the Knitworthy back catalogue, here. https://ysolda.com/collections/knitworthy-patterns
