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Book Review: Knit Yourself Calm

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Now more than ever I think most of us who knit or do other fiber arts are aware of their mental health benefits. We see a reduction in stressful feelings, an ability to control something, which can be powerful, and physiological benefits like decreased blood pressure can come from regular crafting time.

Knit Yourself Calm by Lynne Rowe and Betsan Corkhill came out several years before the pandemic, but its prescription of simple projects to help you calm down and skill-building patterns when you need more of a challenge is a great one for our times.

Despite the title the book doesn’t actually go into a lot of detail about why or how crafting is beneficial as a stress-reduction technique. It is mostly a collection of different kinds of projects for different times — when you need something quick and easy, portable, to work on with a group (or, these days, individually and one person can put the pieces together), big projects and projects for learning new skills.

You’ll find patterns like washcloths, a ribbed scarf and Garter Stitch pillows, simple hats and socks, a patchwork blanket, stripe shawl and cabled fingerless mitts, to name a few. You can see a few of the patterns on the cover on Amazon, or there’s a flip-through preview on the publisher’s website.

Most of the project are suitable for newer knitters who are ready to move on from the basics, and there are instructions for all the techniques needed. If you’re not a new knitter but you like solid patterns with cute design elements but that don’t need a lot of thought put into them, these are good options for you as well. None of the projects totally wow me, but they’d be fine as comfort projects when you just need to run something nice through your needles.

About the book: 112 pages, paperback, 16 patterns. Published 2017 by Search Press, suggested retail $15.95.

 

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Looking for more amazing shawl patterns? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

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Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

There are so many great pumpkin knitting patterns out there, and it looks like I haven’t done a roundup of pumpkin knitting patterns in a few years, so it’s high time for another one.

The Lancaster Pumpkins from Cuddle Bunny Knits on Etsy are classic, made with stockinette stitch in the round and using super bulky yarn. If you’ve never knit a pumpkin before, this is a good place to start.

Jazz it up a little bit by knitting ribbing instead of straight stockinette, which gives your knit pumpkin a little more texture, too. This one is form Jessies Knits on Etsy. This one is worked flat on straight needles and there are three size options to choose from.

Or try the Pumpkin Patch pattern from Blue Sky Fibers, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. It’s worked with two strands of worsted weight yarn held together to give your pumpkins a marled look, or you can keep it solid. 

There’s another free ribbed pumpkin knitting pattern at Yarnspirations that is really cute. These are knit flat and seamed, and they come in three different sizes. You can either stack them as a centerpiece to decorate a table or you can leave them separate. Or make a whole pumpkin patch and do some of both! I love that they chose unconventional colors so you can see you don’t have to be limited to orange when you knit up your pumpkins.

Made by Devrie on Etsy has these cute pumpkins with twisted stitches (they look like cables but it’s only moving one stitch at a time) that you can make in any size with any yarn you like.

The Twisted Heart Pumpkin for Etsy seller Percival Makes Things uses cables to make a heart shape on the side of the pumpkin. It’s worked in the round and the cable pattern is charted.

And while I was really sticking to plain pumpkins here, not knit jack o’lanterns, I can’t resist sharing this beaded jack o’lantern knitting pattern from Knit Cole Studio on Etsy. The base pumpkin is simple Stockinette and you can stitch on beads in whatever design you like to make your face, or keep it plain.

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