Book Review: 100 Knitted Tiles

If you love to knit different kinds of patterned blocks, you will love 100 Knitted Tiles edited by Sarah Callard. This book features charts and patterns with designs inspired by ceramic tiles from around the world, most of which are colorwork but there are also cables, lace and other textured patterns as well.

The blocks are from a range of designers and use different skills. Many of them require reading a chart to work the design. You’ll find a lot of different knitting skills in these pages, including knit and purl designs, cables, lace, mosaic, stranded knitting, intarsia, modular designs, even a circle worked from the center out (some squares are worked from the center out as well).

It’s hard for me to describe the patterns because there’s such a variety and the designs are often more geometric more than graphic. You can see quite a few of the designs on the cover above or at the publisher’s website. (As of this writing they are not on Ravelry.) But with such a wide variety there are sure to be some that interest you, whether you like making projects with blocks or you just want to play with some new techniques.

All of the samples are shown knit in a fingering/sock yarn (Scheepjes Metropolis), but of course you can try different yarn weights if you want your blocks to be bigger for whatever project you’re using them for. The designs are not consistent is size so you’ll have to put some thought into which ones can be used together in a project or how you might alter the designs to make them match up.

The patterns also don’t list a skill level, though most of them are fine for advanced beginner to intermediate knitters comfortable reading charts and knitting cables, lace and colorwork. Some of the designs are more complex (like Trelliage by Jacqui Gouldblourn, a diamond cable trellis pattern that’s written out as well as being charted).

In addition to the tile knitting patterns there are five projects to give readers some ideas for how to use the tiles. There’s a bag made of eight matching motif squares, a cushion with nine patches, a throw that mixes seven different patterns in its 49 tiles, a needle case made from four tiles and a cushion knit from 16 squares (8 each in two different colors). While there’s not a lot of mix and match of patterns within each project, you could always change up the tiles you use for your projects or go for a more patchwork look.

If you’re the type to be inspired by stitch dictionaries and can come up with ways to use these designs on your own I think you’ll have a lot of fun with 100 Knitted Tiles.

About the book: 160 pages, paperback, 100 tile patterns and five projects. Published 2024 by David & Charles, suggested retail price $24.99.

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?