What Should I Knit

One press picks your next knitting project, with the technique it will teach you.

What Should I Knit

First cardiganPicked-up button bands and a neckline finish the first garment that opens.

Next step Or pick a crochet project Try a project in another craft

How it works

Needles free and nothing on them? Press the button for one of 50 knitting projects, from a garter stitch dishcloth to a steeked cardigan, each with the technique it teaches.

Read the full guide

Choose the technique you want to learn

After your first press, the list beside the button narrows the draw. Knit and purl only needs two stitches; In the round, Cables, Colorwork and Lace each add one new skill; Shaping and fit covers heels, thumbs and necklines. Done in a weekend holds 10 quick ones.

Take one step at a time

Pick a project that adds one new thing to what you know: a ribbed beanie teaches knitting in the round, cabled mitts add cables to it, and a Fair Isle hat adds a second color. Set the count to 3 and choose the one you have yarn for.

Tips

Felting only works on animal fibers such as wool; a superwash label means the wool was treated not to felt.

Questions and answers

What is the easiest thing to knit?

A garter stitch dishcloth or scarf: every row is knit, the fabric lies flat, and nothing needs shaping. Once your rows look even, try seed stitch or ribbing to add the purl stitch.

Should I knit or crochet?

Knitting keeps many live stitches on two needles and makes a stretchy, drapey fabric; crochet works one loop at a time with a hook and makes a firmer one. Many people learn both.

What can I knit with one skein of yarn?

A hat, a cowl, fingerless mitts, a headband, a dishcloth or a pair of baby booties. Check the length on the label against the pattern before you start.

All 50 knitting projects

Knit and purl only 11

Basketweave blanket square Blocks of knit and purl trade places to look woven; make one or make twenty.
Garter stitch baby blanket One stitch, many rows, soft yarn: big but restful, and it lies flat.
Garter stitch dishcloth Knit every row and nothing else; the easiest fabric there is, in cotton for the sink.
Garter stitch triangle shawl Start with a few stitches and add one at each edge until it is wide enough.
Knit headband with a twist A long ribbed strip, folded and sewn so the front crosses over itself.
Leg warmers A long ribbed tube, one of the easiest things to knit in the round.
Moss stitch coasters Four small squares of a textured stitch that lies flat on a table.
Ribbed scarf Knit two, purl two: equal ribs do not curl and look the same on both sides.
Seed stitch cowl Knit and purl swap places every stitch for a bumpy fabric; sew the ends into a loop.
Stockinette pillow cover Smooth rows of Vs on the front; add a garter border, as plain stockinette curls.
Striped garter scarf Change color every few ridges and carry the spare yarn up the edge.

Show all 50 knitting projects (39 more)

In the round 18

Cabled hat Cables that run up to the crown, where the decreases fit between them.
Cabled mitts One small cable up the back of each hand; a gentle cable in the round.
Cowl in the round A tube with no seam; your first go at joining stitches into a circle.
Cuff-down socks A heel flap, a turned heel, and a toe closed with Kitchener stitch so it has no seam.
Fair Isle hat Two colors in each round, the spare one carried behind; named after one of the Shetland Islands.
Fair Isle mittens Colorwork on a small canvas, with a thumb to shape at the end.
Fingerless mitts A short tube with a gap for the thumb; no fingers to shape.
Icelandic yoke sweater A lopapeysa: a round yoke of color patterns at the neck, in thick Icelandic wool.
Knitted toy on double-pointed needles A small stuffed animal in tiny rounds; double-pointed needles are how rounds were knit before circulars.
Lace cowl A short lace pattern repeated around a tube; no edges to keep neat.
Leaf lace socks A leaf pattern down the leg of a plain sock.
Plain mittens A tube with a thumb gusset: stitches set aside, then picked up for the thumb.
Ribbed beanie Joined into a circle on a circular needle, then decreased at the top to close it.
Slip-stitch cowl Only one color in each round; slipped stitches pull the other color up into the pattern.
Striped socks Change color every few rounds; the easiest way to add color to socks.
Tea cosy A snug cover for the teapot; the air trapped in the knit keeps the tea warm.
Toe-up socks Start at the toe and try them on as you go, so you knit until the yarn runs out.
Top-down raglan sweater Worked from the neck down, growing along four diagonal lines where raglan seams would be.

Cables 6

Aran-style sweater Off-white, with cables on the body and sleeves, after the jumpers of the Aran Islands.
Cabled baby cardigan A small garment to try cables and shaping together.
Cabled blanket Panels of different cables side by side, joined at the end or knit as one.
Cabled cushion cover A square front with three cables side by side, the middle one wider.
Cabled headband One cable down the middle: a few stitches cross over their neighbors on a spare needle.
Reversible cable scarf Cables worked over ribbing, so the scarf looks right whichever side shows.

Colorwork 5

Double-knit potholder Two layers knit at the same time on one pair of needles, thick enough for a hot pan.
Entrelac scarf Small squares worked at angles that look like woven strips; best in two colors.
Illusion knit scarf Only stripes from the front; look along it at an angle and a picture appears.
Intarsia heart pillow Intarsia gives each block of color its own yarn, fitted together like jigsaw pieces.
Steeked cardigan Knit a colorwork tube, then cut it open up the front: that is a steek.

Lace 6

Eyelet baby cardigan A row or two of small holes across the yoke of a little cardigan.
Lace dishcloth Each hole is a yarn over paired with a decrease; a small square is a gentle first lace.
Lace summer top An open pattern in cotton or linen yarn, cool enough for warm days.
Lace-edged scarf A plain body with a lace border on the ends, so the lace stays short.
Mohair lace wrap Fine, fuzzy yarn and big needles; the fuzz hides small slips.
Triangle lace shawl Start at the top center and grow outward, with lace rows between plain ones.

Shaping and fit 4

Felted slippers Knit them big in pure wool, then shrink them in a hot wash; cotton and acrylic will not felt.
First cardigan Picked-up button bands and a neckline finish the first garment that opens.
Knit baby booties Tiny slippers with a sole and a folded cuff; done in an evening.
Sleeveless vest All the shaping of a sweater body in half the knitting.

How this list was compiled: Own list of 50 knitting projects, written 2026-09-23. Checked that day on English Wikipedia: garter stitch is knit every row and stockinette curls, and equal ribbing lies flat and looks the same on both sides (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_stitch, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbing_(knitting)); Kitchener stitch closes sock toes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchener_stitch); double-pointed and circular needles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_knitting); Fair Isle, intarsia, double knitting, entrelac, illusion knitting, steeks, lace yarn overs, the Aran jumper and the lopapeysa on their own articles; plant and synthetic fibers do not felt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felt), and superwash wool is treated to remove the scales that felt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool). The technique groups are our own judgment. Licence: own work