Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Add Interest to Your Knitting with Knit Pleats

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knitting pleats book
The winner is spierssusan.

Knitting Pleats is an older knitting book that I reviewed quite a while ago, but I hung onto it because the concept is so fun and intriguing.

The book explores how to make permanent folds — aka pleats — in knit fabric by knitting for a while, picking up some stitches and working them together with the live stitches to fold the fabric.

It’s a really interesting technique to play with, and it can be used in all sorts of ways, from making a bag that folds to shaping a shawl or adding interest to a top. (Check out the patterns on Ravelry.)

If you’d like to win this book, leave a comment on this post by the end of the day Sunday, March 26. I’d love to know if you’ve ever worked with knit pleats before (I haven’t!) and what you might use them for. If I were keeping the book, I’d knit the Concertina Bag and Silver Darts, for sure.

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

Comments

  1. So many of the patterns are very interesting! I would love to win a copy!
    Thank you for sharing.

  2. If I were to win this book, I would definitely make the Ribbons and Ties sweater. It can be old fashioned or new age. I really love that one and also the Silver Darts.

  6. Never thought to knit pleats, what a new and brilliant concept! I would knit the Lipstick Glamour, sharpen my skills and then design some more tops for my daughter. She is a Double D and so it is often very hard to find something that either does not look stretched to death round the top and fits the rest of her or fits around the top and hangs like a sack around the rest of her body. Pleats may be the answer to give that extra room.

  7. So creative. I love the Wings Butterfly shawl. I am always trying to stretch my imagination when I knit a garment by either adding embellishments such as. beads, fringe or flowers. Pleats would be so cool and original in a creation. Would love to share this with my fellow knitters.

  8. I love knitting and this is very interesting. I think I may try to do this for my granddaughter for graduation. I think she would love it. I don’t do to much pattern work for I have had many operations on my eyes, I lost all sight but now have a limited amount back, but I think I will still have to try this and see if it comes out for me. Thank you for the chance in winning this book.

  9. I think elements of architecture (building in ridges, folds) is fascinating. It turns fabric into a sort of origami.

  10. How serendipitous. I just saw a wicked cool pattern for a pleated hat and I’ve never worked pleats before. Now seeing this, I see there is so many more fun things to do with them.

  12. Oh my gosh I. Would live to work these up. The are so elegant and I’ve never seen pleats bit definitely sparks one’s imagination.

  13. I haven’t knitted pleats, but it looks such a fun technique! I love the Silver Darts T.

  14. Very cool! I haven’t tried this technique yet, but I’m up for it! Thank you for sharing.

  15. I’ve never seen this technique before, and it has me absolutely fascinated!! The main project I fell in love with was the Borderline Pleated Trim Jacket, but would also love to try the Eve’s Ribs Sweater in a solid yarn or two solid colors, and the Butterfly Shawl was really quite unique, since I love making shawls!! The shawl on the cover is quite different, too, but I would have to tweak that pattern slightly, if I got good enough with the pleating technique, since I don’t care much for bobbles!! Thank you for offering such a wonderful, new and unique giveaway, that not many people will have in their collection!!

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.