(If money is tight and you’d like to knit this pattern, drop me an email at lynljdesigns@gmail.com and I’ll send you the pattern for free, no questions asked.)

This is a pattern for a knitted placemat featuring a picture of an apple tree encircled by climbing vines. The pattern will also work well as a dishcloth, potholder or wall hanging, as a decorative piece, and is perfect as a present to gift in the Autumn/Fall.

The placemat is knitted top down and knitters can choose to work from charted or written instructions (or both!)

The pattern is suitable for adventurous beginners: the design is achieved mostly through knit and purl stitches, with some basic lace stitches (SSK, YO, K2tog, K3tog).

The pattern uses roughly 40 - 65 grams/120 - 210 metres of DK weight yarn in a solid colour. Slightly tonal yarns would also work but anything more variegated than that will obscure the pattern.
Linen or cotton blend yarns will give a more hardy fabric if this is to be used as a placemat or dishcloth, but the pattern has worked equally well in wool or acrylic blends in testing.

Use whichever needles you would normally use with DK yarn (3.75mm or 4mm).
Additionally, four stitch markers would be useful to help keep track of where you are in the pattern.

The suggested gauge is 21 stitches/32 rows per 10cm stocking stitch square. If knitted at this tension, the finished placemat will measure approximately 33cm wide and 26cm tall once blocked.

Big thanks to my lovely test knitters: Amanda, Anne, Carey, Jo, Linda, Louise, Paula and Steph!
And massive, enormous thanks (as always) to Helen the Admin Fairy for doing all the clever stuff and generally sorting me out! xxx