Jake Henzler first designed knit blocks that look like buildings to commemorate his travels to Copenhagen; over time he added other cities and developed still more city blocks for the book Knit the City Building Blocks.
The book includes designs inspired by Copenhagen, Amsterdam, New York, Paris, Sydney, London and Prague.
The book has the blocks for each city together, and they generally increase in difficulty as the book goes on. The beginning of each section includes design notes that include gauge, block measurements and the ratio of different amounts of yarn needed for each block.
Patterns are charted and there are additional elements you can mix and match to make your own blocks with the help of an included blank grid. Sketches of different block ideas are included to give you more options you can use or build on to make your own designs. Suggestions for sizing are given for making a pillow cover, baby blanket and larger blanket but there are no actual patterns.
The squares call for fingering weight yarn, though of course you can use heavier yarn and make bigger blocks if you like. The blocks are worked flat with stranded knitting, and the author advises not working more than three stitches before you trap a float (the book also talks about leaving long floats on the back and trapping them on the purl row if you need to go more than three stitches).
Having never been to any of these cities, I can’t say how well the buildings represent their respective places, but they are cute. I do like that the London blocks had gray sky worked in ribbing, which represents the gloominess for which London is famous.
Even if you’re not from or haven’t visited one of these places, the idea of making a city block blanket or other project is appealing, and there are lots of variations you can use to make the designs your own or make them look similar to buildings where you live.
I might have liked to see the blocks used in a greater diversity of projects, even if there weren’t patterns included. Building blocks on a sweater or vest would be super cute, for example.
Knit the City inspires knitters to look at their communities or places they travel to in a new way, and to make knitting projects from those observations.
About the book: 128 pages, paperback. Published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.
