Looking for Gifts to Knit in a Weekend?
Whether it’s for the holidays or someone’s special day (birthday, baby shower, anniversary), a knitted gift from you is sure to make it extra special and memorable. After all, you’ve put your hours and effort into it. In addition, you enjoyed the process of making it. In other words, everyone is happy because of the gift you knitted.
But what if you only have the weekend to make something great? You want to do it quickly but you also want to make sure that the recipient will be delighted about your gift. That’s why here in this article, we’ll give you solid recommendations so you can accomplish something great this weekend. These recommendations could also inspire you to complete other amazing crafts. Let’s get started.
Shawl (black, brown or white)
It’s a great gift for both men and women and yes, shawls will always be here no matter the season. It’s a great protection against the sunlight and breeze and a shawl also provides extra warmth whether it’s indoors or outdoors.
Moreover, knitting a shawl is straightforward. There’s no need to spend more time studying the pattern and mistakes are rare. In contrast, knitting a vest or a small sweater can be prone to mistakes. The added pressure of the upcoming holidays or someone’s birthday might make the mistakes happen more often.
But it’s hard to go wrong with knitting a shawl. It’s a simple vertical or horizontal piece and you can even do it in a few hours. The recipient will also find great use on your gift because shawls will never go out of style. And if you want to make sure it will always be used, you can knit a black, brown or white shawl. These colours perfectly complement any colour of clothing. You can also choose the recipient’s favourite colour if you know what it is.
Knitted phone case
Because of its small size, a phone case is always easy and quick to knit. In fact, you can knit several phone cases in a weekend and give them all to many of your friends and family. In addition, there’s a wide variety of designs you can do. You don’t have to stick with ordinary and boring patterns. You can make a knitted phone case under a wide variety of concepts (e.g. animals, plants, fruits, flowers, movie character, type of celebration whether it’s Christmas or birthday).
You can choose a specific design according to the recipient’s favourites or celebration. This kind of gift provides you with a lot of options and versatility. Even if it’s just a small phone case, you can make it extra special by personalising it according to the recipient. There are a lot of patterns available and you can even improvise on your own. You just have to take note of the phone’s measurements so you can get it right. For example, here are the dimensions of some new iPhones:
- iPhone X (143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm)
- iPhone XR (150.9 x 75.7 x 8.3 mm)
- iPhone XS (143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm)
- iPhone XS Max (157.5 x 77.4 x 7.7 mm)
If the recipient has a different kind of phone (or perhaps a tablet or laptop), you can search for its dimensions online and make a corresponding phone case according to those measurements. And keep in mind that you can create a unique craft (and not just stick to a boring design) that you could be proud of and the recipient will be delighted with.
Fingerless gloves
This is great for the cool seasons because the user receives extra warmth from the gloves (a good hand warmer). In addition, the fingerless gloves still provide a high level of freedom so that the user can still do most of his/her tasks throughout the day (like typing on a keyboard).
It’s also fairly easy and quick to make. Knitting a pair is simple because it doesn’t have to be a snug fit (but if you can pull it off, congratulations). The sizing for adults could be 21 cm (length) and 17 cm (circumference). You just need to know basic knit and purl, knitting in the round, cast on and cast off and knitting two stitches together. In a weekend you can actually knit several pairs to give to your family and friends (or make a pair for a friend and then knit a phone case for a colleague).
When knitting a pair of fingerless gloves, it’s good to keep it simple and light. A yarn with a balance between wool and acrylic is a good choice for lightweight considerations. After all, the hands will wear them so even with the gloves, it should still be easy to move and perform a common task such as typing on a keyboard.
Fingerless socks (where the toes stick out)
Why stop at fingerless gloves? Fingerless socks are great both indoors and outdoors (and yes, fingerless socks are not too common yet). It’s like wearing both sandals and socks at the same time. The feet get extra warmth while the toes are still free to roam around.
As with all other knitted crafts, fingerless socks provide another level of texture to what people wear. In addition, these socks are actually useful because they provide some warmth while still providing excellent ventilation to the in-between toe fingers. There’s less chance of moisture and odour build-up because of how fingerless socks are designed. And for you, it will be quick and easy to knit (depending on your expertise and dedication, you can actually finish a pair in under 2 hours).
For an added flair and complexity, you can also choose a pattern that goes beyond being fingerless. For example, you can pick the one with a hole that exposes the inner and outer arch of the top foot. It looks sporty and resembles common sandals. You can also pick patterns with holes that expose other areas of the feet.
Knitted book cover
This is a rare gift or craft because almost everyone is focused on knitting pieces of clothing and home accessories. So if you’re looking for something unique, a good choice is a knitted book cover.
It’s great for providing protection (and an added level of personalisation) to the hardbound books your friend owns. The knitted book cover will also provide another level of texture which could make reading more pleasurable especially when the unusually cold days come. And it doesn’t just have to be a decorative book cover because you can make it really useful by adding a pocket for highlighters and bookmarkers (e.g. hooks).
About the dimensions and measurements, most hardcover books are in the 20 x 25 cm range. If the recipient of your gift is a book lover, surely your knitted book cover will find use in one of his or her books. To be more certain, you can look at your friend’s social media feed and take note of the recent books he/she have read. Perhaps all those books are written by the same author. Take note of those books and perhaps search them on Amazon (often the dimensions of the book are specified). Then, you can start knitting according to those measurements.
Gifts to knit in a weekend
You can pick among a knitted shawl, phone case, fingerless gloves, fingerless socks or a book cover. These are all quick and easy to make. All these knitted crafts are also somehow unique and useful. Certainly, the recipient will be delighted if he or she receives any of these from you.
Knitting a unique and personalised item is also a great opportunity to enhance your knitting skills and explore new projects. You’ve probably realised by now that each new project you complete opens doors of new possibilities on what you can create.
So whether it’s for a holiday or the recipient’s special day, you can indeed create something new that will be appreciated. The knitting experience is calming and amazing in itself. But the true joy comes from making something useful out of your skills.