4 Free Easy Knitting Patterns for Cold Weather and Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day gives you a unique opportunity to not only celebrate a romantic holiday but also to keep your man warm! Knit one or more of these items and your boyfriend or husband will surely know that you treasure your love because you took the time to make something homemade versus a store-bought gift.

Also, he will cherish the Valentine's Day present each year as it keeps him warm during the winter months when he wears it or uses it. I know my husband loves his gifts that I have knitted them, because he wears them whenever he can and receives lots of compliments!

The following four patterns will be given in this article for free. These patterns are simple and beginners can stretch their skills and learn something new by making them. They are still very easy, but they are not projects I would suggest for a first time knitter. I would recommend trying a flat pattern before attempting one of these.

By making one of these free knitting patterns for your man on Valentine’s Day you can save money and put a personal touch to your gift, giving him a lifelong memory and keepsake of your special day together. These projects do not take a lot of time so you can easily finish them before February 14!

Most men don't get cold feet like women, but it's wintertime right now so many men are just as cold as women year round! Unfortunately stores cater more towards women's needs since they are usually the shoppers in the family! My husband started complaining this winter about how cold his feet were when he didn’t have socks on!

Even if you do find some male slippers to keep your honey warm, good luck finding ones that are comfortable to him and that fit! I’ve noticed guys can often be pickier than girls when it comes to what they will actually wear! It's much easier to make a tailored pair of slippers that fit your sweetheart's feet!

Plus you can use super soft yarn and he'll love them so much that when he's at home, he won't ever want to take them off! ally the shoppers in the family! My husband started complaining this winter about how cold his feet were when he didn’t have socks on!

We have tile in our kitchen, bathrooms and entryway. In the winter, if you are barefoot it is freezing! I have a crocheted pair of slippers, but my husband didn't even have big fuzzy warm socks. Because of the type of yarn that was used on my slippers, they are a bit rough on my feet, but they do keep them warm. I think they may have been crocheted.

On his slippers I used a much softer yarn, so when he's not around, I slip them on and wear his new slippers around the house! :) complaining this winter about how cold his feet were when he didn’t have socks on!

I guess I should just make myself a pair! The nice thing about the pattern is that it is adjustable to whatever size you need. It is also a fast knit. I think I completed his in only two evenings. I was shocked that it did not take me a long time because I had never knitted a pair of slippers before in my life. his slippers I used a much softer yarn, so when he's not around, I slip them on and wear his new slippers around the house! :)

Really the most challenging part of the pattern was sewing them up, and even that wasn't challenging; it just took longer than the actual knitting of the slippers. When I work on a pattern that needs to be sewed up, my husband usually does the sewing, but in this case, I wanted to surprise him!

Know your husband's or boyfriend's shoe size. The pattern was made for an 11.5 sized foot. I thought my husband wore a 13 so I increased the cast on and knitted more rows to make it wider because he also has wider feet than most men.

What's funny is that even though I made these adjustments, the slippers still barely fit him once I sewed them up. Now that he has worn them a few times he has stretch them out and they fit him very well. He loves them and wears them all the time around the house. I think he was shocked when he got them. He really was pleased at the quality of my work and the fact that I branched out of my normal knitting routine.

I normally knit something flat like a scarf, a dishcloth, or an afghan. I find that easiest and fastest for me to do. I am more comfortable knitting those things, but the items in this article are things that aren’t flat. I feel like I really branched out and moved out of my comfort zone by knitting these items.

The Pattern

This pattern is super simple and basically is a mixture between a garter stitch section which involves only the knit stitch and a stockinette section which involves a trade-off between a row of knitting and a row of purling.

It actually turned out quite nice considering it was my first difficult project. I can do stitching like that pretty easily but when it comes to the finishing touches like sewing up the seams, Bryan has always been the one who helps in that area. He’s better at it than I am. However since this gift was for him I had to do that part and so it was a challenge for me.

In terms of slippers I don't think you will find an easier pattern. I looked amongst many different patterns before I finally settled on this one, because I was apprehensive about whether or not I have the ability to make it. That’s why I am confident that you can follow the directions and make it for your sweetheart in time for Valentine’s Day!

Let me know your thoughts on the pattern. If you decide to knit it, put a link to your picture in the comments section or just tell me all about your experience. I’d love to know your struggles if you had any. If you have any questions, I’m sure you could ask the creator of the project or feel free to ask me in the comments section below. I’m here to listen!

Creating a beanie was my first challenging project. There were a couple stitches that I didn't know how to do and had to learn in order to make the knitting project. I don't really think it's fair for me to say that I made this hat, because my husband did just as much work on it as I did. He is a great help to me with finishing touches!

My original intent was to surprise him and make it for him for his birthday. However since he does the finishing touches to my project, I really needed his help on this project, so we ended up knitting the beanie together. I completed the basic knitting pattern for the project and he did the sewing up of the project which I think took much longer than my part did.

The Pattern

So far it is this still the only beanie I have ever made and my husband wears it all the time even today. As you read the pattern you will see that it recommends doing some ribbing. However, since I found this project to be challenging enough for me as a beginner, I chose not to do the ribbing, but instead I garter stitched the project where it called for ribbing.

Once Bryan did his part which was the finishing touches, the beanie turned out to be really nice. Both he and I wear it quite a bit. It stretches out a lot and is a one-size-fits-all pattern so it comfortably fits both of us. I think you could make it for any sized head!

When I originally planned to make it myself as a birthday gift for him I chose the color light gray because that is a masculine color that he likes. It also goes with any outfit or on any occasion. Other masculine colors that I might recommend for this project or any project that you are doing for your Valentine are:

• Blue
• Black
• Green
• Orange
• Red
• Brown
• Tan
• Navy
• Maroon
• Camouflage
• Multicolor

If you want to make it Valentine’s Day related, knit it in red or maroon.

I really didn't think I had the skills at the time to make this project, but I did in fact have the ability to make it look stylish and I think it turned out great. We have gotten many compliments on it from friends and family. Therefore don't be afraid to try it even though it may have a few stitches that you are not familiar with. You can do it if I can do it, because I still consider myself to be somewhat of a beginner.

For Christmas most of my relatives gave me money. I decided to venture out and buy some yarn that was out of my comfort zone. Lately I have been experimenting with chunky yarn, but I still have been shopping at the main craft chain stores like Hobby Lobby and Michael's.

One day when my husband and I were feeling adventurous, we decided to check out some local yarn and knitting shops. We found one that was just a few miles from our home. We spent quite a few hours exploring all of the different things there! While the yarn there was a bit confusing for me because I was not familiar with it and the prices were quite a bit higher than what we were used to, we still found bargains on very unique yarn.

There was a clearance section plus we calculated which yarn was most unusual and which would give us the most yarn for the least amount of money. I purchased some baby alpaca grande yarn that was super soft and we eventually figured out how to use it. We were so impressed with its texture and appearance. Bryan had never had a cowl before, and it has been really cold here in Oklahoma, so that is what I decided to use that yarn for.

I used the soft baby alpaca yarn in a tan color to make him a cowl for his neck to keep him warm for the days when he works outside. He loves that thing and wears it all the time! I have made cowls in the past but I have found that when working with any yarn other than worsted weight, I have difficulty. Therefore I was nervous about using such a delicate yarn type.

Also, because the yarn was much more expensive than the cheap yarn I usually buy, I was nervous about messing up, ruining the project and losing the yarn’s beautiful texture if I had to rip out the project and start over! This wasn't a normal cowl pattern that I was used to. Previously I had made garter stitch easy cowls that involved only the knit stitch.

However with this pattern I wanted to branch out a little bit and test my skills as I have become a tad bit more advanced than I used to be. This pattern had texture to it which gave it character and an added dimension. As you can see in the pictures, it has a nice ribbed look to it.

Whenever I make a small mistake on a big project or on a very personal project like this cowl that I made for Bryan, I think it shows that it was handmade by me and I think it adds a little character to the item. It shows that it was not store bought and that I am only human and make mistakes just like anyone else!

The Pattern

The cowl basically had a rib like pattern which added the texture to it. I think at one point I may have gotten off one stitch but the types of mistakes that I make are usually not noticeable unless I point them out. Bryan had no clue that I had made a mistake until I showed it to him but by that time it was completed.

Like I said, I don’t think the mistake is noticeable. If you look at the cowl closely, I can show it to you, but if I were to ask you to find the mistake, you would just think it was part of the pattern. There are three ribbed sections to the pattern and two of them are parallel on the cowl I made. The third section is where I must have gone off a stitch, because it is not quite parallel to the other two sections of ribbing, but that’s okay. Again, I think it just adds character to it!

He was very happy with it and it is reversible so he can wear it inside or out. I even find myself wearing it at times, because it's easy to slip on and keep my neck warm when I run outside for a moment whereas with a normal scarf or a long scarf like the ones I have, you have to wrap it around and around your neck in order to get your neck warm before you go outside.

I still consider myself somewhat of a beginner so I will say that this pattern is still easy, but it is not as easy as the majority of patterns that I will pick out for you as I present free knitting patterns in my hubs. I will try to stick to basic knitting and purling patterns for beginners until I feel like I have made enough of those to get you going on to the next step. Then, I will help you move on to learning something new.

This article may stretch your beginner skills a bit as you try something new and I encourage you to challenge yourself! Also, keep me posted as you knit the items in this article. I’d like to know where you struggle and if you are having any problems. You can always contact me via the comments below or on Twitter at @flirtyknitter. I check Twitter several times a day. Also, if you have questions about this pattern, I’m sure the author would be happy to help you!

I think it's important for you to have this beautiful free knitting pattern because it is unique and very manly and you will be able to knit it in time for Valentine's Day! My husband has gotten so many compliments on it and I am very proud that it has the ribbed texture which makes it look so sophisticated! I hope your man enjoys it as much as mine has! bout this pattern, I’m sure the author would be happy to help you!

As crazy as it may sound this was actually the project that I was most worried about making for my husband for Christmas this year. I had never made a tea cozy and I knew it would be simple to do a garter stitch one but since he always helped me with the stitching I didn't know how I would be able to measure and stitch up one by myself.

Stitching has never been my strongest skill although I know it is a necessary part of knitting. I guess I just have always been more comfortable with the knitting portion, since my husband does NOT want to do that part, and HE has always enjoyed helping me with the stitching or weaving in of the ends. Since I knew I would have to do a lot of stitching even though this is a small project, this led to my apprehension.

However, making this gift was important to me because over the last few months Bryan has really gotten into coffee. In fact, the kitties and me bought him a large variety of coffees from the store, wrapped them for Christmas, and placed them in his stocking.

I was making this as a Christmas gift to accompany two coffee thermoses that I bought him as gifts along with the coffee from his stocking. As the weather got colder and the more he enjoyed coffee I decided to go ahead and give him the thermoses early. We recently bought a beautiful shiny red old school coffee maker (but brand new) to replace my old broken one that was about 10 years old. So you can see why making coffee cozies was a crucial part of his gifts this year. Everything kind of went together.

The Pattern

Since I gave him the thermoses early, it made the measuring of the tea cozy difficult because he was using the thermoses. I had to secretly steal one that he wasn't using at the time in order to measure it properly. I didn’t exactly feel like I knew what I was doing since I had never made one, but I actually think they turned out great!

Using the pattern I pretty much guessed on the size based on the thermos that I had in hand. That was the second part that made it challenging to create this present. I kind of knitted it a ways, measured it around the thermos, and then kept knitting until I felt like the size would be right once I stitched up the side.

As I knitted it I had to hope that I created the correct length around in order for it to fit the thermos correctly once I sewed it up, because it was stretchy and I wasn’t sure how it would fit the other thermos he had. Once again sewing it up took longer than the actual knitting of the coffee cozy.

I don't usually veer from the instructions of a pattern but maybe you have to when making cozies in order to have them fit your coffee mug or thermos. This pattern as you will see gives you a lot of options and flexibility, so you can improvise a lot as you see fit!

The garter stitching of the project was a breeze since it was a small item and I didn't have to do a whole lot of work. The stitching that I dreaded so much was not all that bad since it was such a small project and a short side. Once I was finished and felt confident in how it looked with the thermos I decided to create another one. I wanted to make one from me and one from the kitties.

The first one I made was black and I decided to make the second one red, not because those are my husband's favorite colors but because they represented his work colors for Coca-Cola, and he would be using them at work each day. He really loved them! He was so impressed with the fact that I made something new; plus, since he had now made coffee drinking a hobby/passion, he loved that I knitted a gift that could go along with it!

My Alterations of the Pattern

I have seen many knitters monogram their knitted work so impressively in the past. It's always been something I've wanted to learn how to do but never really thought I could. On this project, you don’t have room to monogram much, but on some of the other patterns that I have presented in other hubs related to Valentine’s Day, I recommend you monogramming something like “Made for You with Love” or something similar since it is such a romantic holiday; plus, you DID make something with love and it was homemade!

With this project, I finally found the courage and inspiration to try monogramming. I used a thick cream yarn and basically just sewed like I was cross-stitching with a darning needle. I put the initials on the cozies – one to remind him of me when he was drinking his coffee and one from the kitties.

On the black one, I sewed an "M" for Michele, and I explained to Bryan the reason which was so that when he used his coffee mug he could think of me each time he saw the letter. It was romantic to him, and he really loved the idea. We aren’t an overly mushy, romantic couple, but we do enjoy doing the little things for each other that remind us we will always be husband and wife.

On the red one, I sewed "K + P" representing King and Princess, our two cats who we love as children. I wrapped the cozy and put a note on it that it was from the cats. He absolutely loved it as well and understood what I meant. Keep in mind, as I mentioned, you won’t have much room to monogram on the cozies, so you may want to keep it to just a couple letter like I did.

It may sound silly to you but I'm sure that you have your own inside stories or jokes with your boyfriend or husband. You should use those to make him a personalized gift that mean something to both of you. That’s what Valentine’s Day is all about. We often can’t afford to go out on this occasion, so we save our money, and just do something simple at home and have just as much fun!

While I did not follow this pattern exactly and there is more than one patterns provided in this link, this is the website that I used in order to create my first coffee cozy. I hope that it will help you in making yours! Let me know your thoughts on the pattern. If you decide to knit it, put a link to your picture in the comments section or just tell me all about your experience. I’d love to know your struggles if you had any. If you have any questions, I’m sure you could ask the creator of the project or feel free to ask me in the comments section below.

Do you know of a free knitting pattern you could share that someone could use to knit their sweetheart for Valentine’s Day? If so, please share it in the comments section below to help your fellow knitters in finding the perfect cold weathered gift for their man this holiday!

Please enjoy these additional free knitting resources in order to further your knitting skills and learn more!

If you need a refresher on the basics of knitting, check out these great videos. They are short, sweet, and informative! ls and learn more!

Dear Readers:

The images in this article were created and published by Michele Kelsey (theflirtyknitter).

Please feel free to ask a direct question about any of the information provided in this article or any questions you may have about the free knitting patterns provided above.

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Thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoyed these free knitting patterns!

I would really like to see what you have created based on these patterns, so feel free to post me links to your pictures or post your pictures in the comments below. Let me know if these videos helped you or if you found a broken link or a better video; I appreciate constructive criticism as much as I appreciate learning how my articles have helped you become a better or a new knitter today!

Best of luck in your knitting adventures this holiday season!

Michele Kelsey (theflirtyknitter)