Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

The Walker Treasury Project

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Most knitters know that Barbara Walker’s Treasuries are indispensable. We use them constantly for designing, for help with a difficult pattern, and for pure inspiration. That’s where the Walker Treasury Project comes in.

A group of knitters have displayed on the web many of [tag]Barbara Walker[/tag]’s Treasury of Knitting stitch patterns in color. The hope is to offer knitters a visual aid when knitting these stitch patterns as the original patterns were pictured in black and white in the books and do not give justice to the true beauty of the [tag]stitch patterns[/tag]. The site will not offer the patterns, however, as they are copyrighted.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Barbara authored several volumes of knitting references. Her knitting treasury series documents over a thousand different knitting stitches. Barbara’s other books included designing [tag]mosaic knitting[/tag] to producing multicolored designs while knitting only one color per row, and ‘[tag]Knitting from the Top[/tag]” a book on how to construct knitted garments from the top-down rather than the usual bottom-up method. After over 20 years out of print, ‘Knitting from the Top‘ is being reprinted with many of her other knitting books, starting in the mid-1990s, as well as the publication of new contributions to knitting literature.

If you have the opportunity, visit The Walker Treasury and view the stitched designs. The site is very slow loading as it is graphic intense. This will be an ongoing project since there are over 1,000 patterns in the 4 book set – so visit often.

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Comments

  1. Hello!

    I wasn’t aware that the page was loading slow (I’m a college student spoiled with high speed internet) – I changed the number of posts that show up and so hopefully that will mean things will load faster!

    Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

  2. Nicole, thanks for visiting. Love the pics of the stitches. Yes, some of us have slower access,LOL. I was also spoiled at college with the speed, but alas I now have a DSL connection.

    Laura

Have you read?

Felted Bag Knitting Patterns

I feel like felting is a knitting genre that deserves a resurgence. My first knitting book (which came out in 2008, eek!) was all about felting, but I don’t feel like there are a lot of felting knitting projects out there these days. I really like the technique as an easy way to make a thicker, more durable knit fabric, and it’s actually perfect for knitting bags.

The ZZ Bag from yamagara recently caught my eye and got me thinking about felted bags, and maybe remaking one of the bags that was in that book. This one has a fun zigzag pattern and is worked in worsted weight yarn. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

A lot of the other knit and felted bag patterns I could find were older, but that doesn’t make them bad patterns. I’ve always loved the booga bag from Black Sheep Bags (the pattern is on their website but the photo is broken so you can also check it out on Ravelry). This is a fun one because you can use all your leftovers or a self-striping yarn (the original was made with Noro) to give it a colorful look that’s super easy to knit. 

An envelope purse is another easy shape to knit, and this version from Lavender Hill Knits on Etsy comes in different sizes for younger girls and teens or adults. The small version is worked with one strand of worsted weight yarn, while the larger uses two held together.

The Japanese knot bag is a classic, and a felted version is a lot of fun. You can find this pattern from Cindy Pilon on Ravelry and knit one for yourself using bulky yarn. I also love her bag The Curve, which is also on Ravelry and has a fun rounded shape and contrasting handles.

And there’s also the amazing stained glass bag from Knitting Dream, which also uses a Noro yarn, but you could use wool scraps on the different fans to give it a unique look. There are two size options to choose from and it’s not as tricky as it looks.