Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

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.

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?

Pencil Knitting Patterns

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns! 

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil. 

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn. 

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point. 

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up. 

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.