Whimsical Works
Crafting, Creating, and More!
Project of the week
Easy Knitted Bookmark
By Norman at nimble-needles.com
“Are you looking for a simple knitting pattern you can easily finish in one afternoon? Something easy and suitable for knitting beginners? Then this knitted bookmark might be perfect for you! I designed it using only 3 basic stitches but tried to use them in very smart ways so you end up with something that doesn’t shout “beginner project” from three miles away.”
You will need to know:
How to cast on
How to knit the knit stitch
How to knit two together
and how to do a yarn over
Materials you will need:
Now, here’s the bad news. You can’t knit bookmarks with worsted yarn. Your finished project would end up way too thick and you really don’t want to stretch the spines of your books too much. I really recommend you stick to a nice lace-weight yarn or a fine sock yarn. 5-10 grams of lace yarn (so you really just need some scraps). double-pointed knitting needles size 2.00 mm. I am using the Knitter’s Pride Karbonz here. A tapestry needle and scissors.
DIRECTIONS:
Cast on 16 stitches using a long tail cast on and leaving a tail of 6 inches for weaving in later on
Rows 1-2: knit across
Row 3: knit 2, yarn over, knit two together, knit 8, knit two together, yarn over, knit 2
Row 4: knit
Row 5: k3, yo, k2tog, k6, k2tog, yo, k3
Row 6: knit
Row 7: k4, yo, k2tog, k4, k2tog, yo, k4
Row 8: knit
Row 9: k5, yo, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k5
Row 10: knit
Row 11: k6, yo, k2tog, k2tog, yo, k6
Row 12: knit
Row 13: k8, yo, k2tog, k6
Row 14: knit
Repeat rows 3-14 until you reached the desired length
If you look closely at my pictures, you can see that I repeated the arrow pattern 7 times before I started with the tip. But depending on your personal prefer-ences (and the typical size of your books) you may want to create a longer or shorter bookmark.
Once you are satisfied, we need to create the tip.
Row 1: k2, yo, k2tog, k8, k2tog, yo, k2 (16 stitches)
Row 2: knit
Row 3: k3, yo, k2tog, k6, k2tog, yo, k3
Row 4: knit
Row 5: k2tog, k2, yo, k2tog, k4, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog (14 stitches)
Row 6: knit
Row 7: k2tog, k2, yo, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog (12 stitches)
Row 8: knit
Row 9: k2tog, k2, yo, k2tog, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog (10 stitches)
Row 10: knit
Row 11: k2tog, k2, yo, k2tog, k2, k2tog (8 stitches)
Row 12: knit
Row 13: k2tog, k4, k2tog (6 stitches)
Row 14: knit
Row 15: k2tog, k2, k2tog (4 stitches)
Row 16: knit
From here, you need to start working on the tassel. If you don’t want the tassel, you could decrease for one more row (optional row 19: k2tog, k2tog), cut the working yarn, and pull the yarn through those last two stitches with a tapestry needle.
The cord of the tassel is created using the ingenious i-cord method. But it ba-sically boils down to:
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Slide the stitches to the other end of your needle, and knit across with-out turning your project around
repeat rows 1+2 over and over again
Once you are satisfied with the length of your i-cord, cut the working yarn leaving a tail of around 8 inches, thread the tail on a tapestry needle, and pull the yarn through the remaining stitches and then pull tight.
To create the tassel, wrap yarn around your hand quite a couple of times (30ish) and create a stack of loops. Then, sew it to the end of your bookmark by going around it a couple of times (pull tight as you go) and squeezing in a knot through the end of the i-cord.
And then, bring the yarn through the top of the stack and wrap it around it a couple of times to secure it. Sew through it three or four times, and then hide the rest of the tail inside the tassel.
Use your scissors to cut open the bottom of your loop of yarn and trim the tassel to your preferred length.
And last, but certainly not least, you need to weave in the cast on tail. In this case, I went right through the edge. What you could also do is, you can pick up the cast on tail and knit with two strands of yarn for the first row. Then you can simply cut away the part that is still dangling down once you are finished.
