Norah Gaughan is a master of interesting shapes and outside-the-norm construction techniques, and she brings decades of design experience and creativity to the designs in Knit Fold Pleat Repeat: Simple Knits, Gorgeous Garments.
Gaughan says she was interested in looking at non-traditional ways to cover the body with knitting, whether by working with rectangles or other simple shapes, or joining different geometric shapes together. This naturally led her to look at origami as a further source of inspiration for manipulating knit fabric to make simple shapes both more interesting and more wearable.
The book is divided into chapters that play with different concepts. There are patterns made entirely of rectangles that are joined in various ways or shaped with surface treatments. Polygons eventually join the mix, with shapes being joined and manipulated to make other shapes. As the book goes on, more shaping is added, and eventually there are garments with more traditional construction methods joined to techniques for ruching, pleating and otherwise adding texture.
Each pattern has a little description of the thought and design process behind the garment, as well as further thoughts that might inspire you to design a similar garment taken in a different direction.
The patterns are all so different it’s a little hard to describe them or to pick favorites. You really need to look at the projects yourself to see if they are things you would like to make (you can see all the patterns on Ravelry). Some of my favorites include Hussar, a boxy jacket with rolls of pleats at the center fronts; Kite, a short-sleeved top made of bias-knit squares, triangles and rectangles (it has a really cool neckline); and Tilt, a gigantic rectangle fashioned into a pleated skirt with a yoke-like waist.
These patterns are all interesting, and will get you thinking about knitting in different ways and wondering about different options for constructing and embellishing garments. Because so much of it is simple stockinette squares and rectangles, there’s actually a good bit of mindless knitting on offer here with a big payoff after the manipulation you do after the knitting is done.
This is the book to get the knitter who knows every technique, to remind them there is always more to learn, or for your fashion-forward friend you’ve been wanting to teach how to knit.
About the book: 224 pages, 36 patterns, hardcover. Published 2022 by Abrams Books. Suggested retail $29.99.
