Six Last Minute Knitted (and Crocheted) Gift Patterns

It’s that time of year again! Gift giving season! I figured that this would be a perfect time to post a compilation of a few of my favorite, tried and tested fast knitting patterns – you know, in case anyone needs to procure a thoughtful, hand-knit gift in the span of a mere afternoon.

All photos are taken from the Ravelry Pattern page, and link back to the original source.

1) Fern Lace Cowl by Jami Brynildson – I’ve made several of these over the years – it’s a quick knit that’s interesting enough to keep you entertained without being too brainpower intensive, allowing you to easily pump this project out in an afternoon. And the finished project looks way more complicated than it is, and is very versatile. It can look drastically different depending on your yarn choice – in case you’ve got more than one to make!

2) Polka Dot Christmas Stocking by Priscilla Hewitt – Again, a pattern I’ve used a number of times over the years, both last minute and in advance! The rounds are super quick to complete making this another 1 afternoon make. The only tricky part of this one is putting it all together at the end – there is no piecing diagram – but it’s not too difficult to figure out. Three rounds per row, offset to make them lock in with one another. The toe can be a little finicky if you’re not good with spacial reasoning (I have one or two of these that has a little bit of a lumpy toe as a result of me rushing too fast) but even if the toe doesn’t come out quite right, it still ends up looking great in the end.

3) Bella’s Mittens by Marielle Henault – This is a pattern that was SUPER popular a number of years ago in the heat of the Twilight craze, since they’re based off of mittens the character of Bella apparently wears in the movie. I was never a Twilight fan. The whole premise and execution of it is just really icky to me for a number of reasons. But this pattern? I LOVE this pattern. I made these mittens as a gift for my mom, and had allotted like, three weeks for them since I had never done cables on DPNs before. I definitely did not need it. They were done in an afternoon and a half – and honestly the extra half afternoon is only because I stalled putting on the thumbs. The bulky yarn has a great deal to do with how quickly they knit up, and you can also shave even more time off by cutting the amounts of repeats on the cuffs so they don’t go almost up to the elbow.

4) Hill Country Hat by Clara Parkes – This was my very first hat pattern, and it’s remained in my repertoire ever since because of the ease and speed that it knits up. It’s also easily editable for big or small heads, and for those who do or do not prefer some extra length to fold up.

5) Calorimetry by Kathryn Schoendorf – This is the OG messy bun hat, if you ask me. This pattern is probably in almost every raveler’s notebook in some form or another – it’s crushing popularity after its release in the Winter 2006 edition of Knitty was just insane. It’s got over 18,000 projects filed on Ravelry, making it the 3rd most popular free pattern on the entire website. It’s easy to knit, easy to personalize with crocheted flowers or other embellishments, and SUPER practical (in addition to this style of headband being pretty “in” right now). That said, you do need to be familiar with your intended recipient’s head size, as the sizing can be a bit finicky in my experience. The first one I made (and I even paid attention to gauge, which I NEVER do) wore more like a babushka than a headband on me. However, with its immense popularity there’s a lot of ways documented about how to adjust for a bigger or smaller head available in Ravelry project pages.

6) Cozy Ribbed Scarf by Dawn Regan – And lastly, this cozy ribbed scarf is also a winner – super simple pattern, and again, easily customizable in terms of look depending on yarn choice. It can look polished or casual, preppy or boho. Chunky yarn makes this knit up super quickly, and the result is warm and totally “in” right now.

Do you have any favorite quick knits (or crochets)?