Book Review: Graphic Knits

Even though I’ve written a book about colorwork knitting, I have to admit a lot of the projects I knit are worked with a solid color or a self-striping yarn rather than working in stripes or a colorwork pattern on my own.

Colorwork is a lot of fun, though, and it makes projects look a lot more interesting than if they were worked in a solid color or allover stitch pattern.

Alexis Winslow defines graphic in the title of her book Graphic Knits: 20 Designs in Bold, Beautiful Color to mean both colorful elements and variations of stitch pattern in an otherwise solid garment.

Her tops, hats, mitts and other accessories look like a lot of fun to knit and something a little beyond the ordinary in terms of construction techniques and the skills involved.

Some of my favorite projects include the Minnow Top, worked with stripes of chevron lace and eyelets; the Rockling Cardigan, which gives the grandpa sweater a colorwork update; Woodstar beret and mitts, lovely pieces worked in three colors with star and diamond motifs; the Tanager Shrug, an origami-like design worked in three colors of stripes broken up by eyelets; the Liwi Top, a simple Stockinette shell with mesh lace at the bodice; the Sweetness Pullover, a top-down, circular yoke sweater with dots of different colors; and the Burren Pullover, which uses short rows to make skewed stripes.

Check out all the designs on Ravelry.

I think this book is a great one for people who might not knit with a lot of color or who tend to stick to Stockinette. It will broaden your horizons and increase your skill levels while providing you with really lovely projects to wear and use.

About the Book: 136 pages, paperback, 20 patterns (no skill levels given). Published October 2014 by Interweave/F+W, 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?