Less time on Sampler - Knitting Pattern For Home in MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino

Less Time on Sampler – Knitting Pattern for Home by MillaMia

The Less Time on Sampler is a charming beginner-friendly knitting pattern from MillaMia, designed to create a decorative home textile featuring an inspirational motto. Worked as a flat knitted panel, this homeware piece measures approximately 34cm wide by 19cm high (13½in × 7½in) and makes a beautiful addition to any interior as a handmade wall decoration or display piece. The design is one-size and straightforward enough for newer knitters to enjoy, while still producing a polished, professional-looking result.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a knitted sampler — a flat rectangular panel worked in stocking stitch and decorated with a personalised or inspirational motto. Samplers have a long tradition in needlecraft as both decorative and sentimental objects, and this modern knitted interpretation brings that heritage into contemporary home décor. The finished piece can be displayed as a wall hanging, framed, or used as a textile decoration in the home.

Techniques Used

• Worked flat: The entire sampler is knitted flat on a pair of straight needles, making it highly accessible for beginners who are not yet comfortable with circular or in-the-round knitting.
• Swiss Darning (Duplicate Stitch): The motto or lettering is applied to the finished knitted fabric using Swiss Darning, also known as duplicate stitch. This embroidery technique involves threading a yarn needle and tracing over existing knitted stitches to create the appearance of colourwork without the complexity of carrying multiple yarns across a row. The result is a crisp, bold, and highly legible letter or motif that sits cleanly on the surface of the fabric. The pattern notes that this method produces a more pronounced and defined finish than traditional colourwork stranding.
• Stocking Stitch (Stockinette): The background fabric is worked entirely in stocking stitch — knit on the right side, purl on the wrong side — creating a smooth, even surface that acts as an ideal canvas for the Swiss Darned lettering.

Stitches Used

• Knit stitch – forming the smooth right-side fabric of the stocking stitch background
• Purl stitch – worked on wrong-side rows to complete the stocking stitch structure
• Swiss Darning / Duplicate Stitch – an embroidery stitch worked with a tapestry needle over the finished knitted stitches to add the decorative text or motif in a contrasting colour

Materials Required

Yarn

• MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino – a sport weight yarn, used throughout this pattern. This yarn is a 100% merino wool in a sport weight, known for its softness, stitch definition, and wide colour palette — all qualities that make it particularly well suited to a sampler where clean stitch definition enhances the Swiss Darning finish.
• Main Colour (M): One 50g/1¾oz ball in Snow 124 – a crisp white shade forming the background panel
• Contrast Colour (C): One ball in Midnight 101 – a deep navy used for the Swiss Darned lettering, providing strong contrast against the white ground

Suggested Alternative Colourways

The pattern also suggests several alternative colour combinations using other shades from the MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino range, including Ice 125, Grass 121, Putty 141, Daisy 142, Grey, and Yellow, allowing knitters to personalise the sampler to suit their own home décor or colour preferences.

Needles

• A pair of 3.25mm (US 3) straight knitting needles for working the flat panel
• A tapestry or yarn needle for working the Swiss Darning embroidery on the finished piece

Tension / Gauge

The recommended tension is 25 stitches and 34 rows to 10cm/4in over