You may have heard of friendship bracelets. But have you heard of friendship coasters?
My 7-year-old had to stay home for a few days to recover from a nasty cough and poor sleep. Missing his best friend, he decided to knit a coaster for him, in the same style as those we made for family over Christmas.
This is a very beginner-friendly project that he is now able to complete independently, from start to finish. I handed him the yarn and needles, and he was done before I had a chance to take a picture of him knitting. Granted, it turned out much looser (and thus bigger) than the ones I did with him– more like a potholder– and had a gaping hole that I mended while weaving in the loose ends. Yet I am very proud and thankful for the progress that he has made, and especially for the fact that he wanted to spend time knitting for his friend.
The construction is simple: it is a square stockinette piece, with two rows/stitches of garter borders to prevent curling. It can easily be scaled up to make a potholder, placemat, dish cloth, or hand towel.
Materials
- Super bulky (#6) acrylic yarn– we used Lion Hometown Riverdale Tweed
- 10.0mm knitting needles
Instructions
The pattern consists of two types of rows:
- Knit row: Knit all but the last stitch. Purl-wise slip the last stitch.
- Purl row: Knit 2 stitches. Purl all but the last 2 stitches. Knit 1 stitch. Purl-wise slip the last stitch.
Steps:
- Cast on 12 sts. (If the knitting is loose, decrease the number of stitches to desired size.)
- Make 2 Knit rows.
- Alternate Purl and Knit rows until the center (stockinette) part is a square, about 5-6 Purl-Knit sets.
- Make 1 Knit row. Only one row is needed here because we just finished with a knit row in the previous step.
- Cast off.
- Weave in the ends with a tapestry needle.
