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Book Review: Knitlandia

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Knitlandia by Clara Parkes reviewKnitters have a lot of events at which we are able to get together, learn new things, discover new yarns and buy a lot of stuff. As a teacher and yarn lover, Clara Parkes has been to a lot of these events and done a lot of things that most knitters don’t do.

She’s a regular at Maryland and Rhinebeck, has taught classes for Craftsy and was a regular on Knitting Daily, she’s written books and led retreats.

Her latest book, Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World, offers 17 essays about the places and people of the knitting world and Parkes’ experiences in it. There are trips to Iceland, Paris and Edinburgh, to Taos and Columbus.

She writes about attending the two Sock Summits in Portland and teaching at Yarnover, a day of workshops presented by a Minnesota knitting guild that takes place in a school.

She shares the details that make each of these places and events special in a way that makes you wish you could go there someday — or could have gone there. If you have FOMO (fear of missing out) you probably should not read this book.

You might have trouble with it, too, if you’re a minimalist or on any kind of a yarn diet. The excesses of some of these shows in terms of how much people buy actually makes me not feel so bad about never having attended them (fully understanding that it is vital for the healthy continuance of our craft for people to buy things, even things they never use).

I did enjoy reading this book, and it always makes me happy to see the camaraderie that can be found among knitters anywhere in the world, and the sense that in those moments when we come together as a group, we are one.

A single knitter is shorthand for “nothing to see here, move on.” But when knitters gather, we become incongruously conspicuous. We are a species that other people aren’t used to seeing in flocks, like a cluster of Corgis, a dozen Elvis impersonators waiting for an elevator.

These essay are the armchair travel of the knitting world, giving you a taste of what some different knitting-related experiences are like, which may encourage you to seek those places out for yourself.

If you like reading about knitting as much as you like actually knitting, you’re going to want to grab a copy of this book. And of course if you’ve ever attended Rhinebeck or Maryland Sheep and Wool, the Edinburgh Yarn Festival or Vogue Knitting Live, you’ll want to read these stories to get the point of view of a teacher and a keen, detailed observer of the knitting world.

Book specifications: 160 pages, hardcover with jacket, 17 essays. STC Craft, published February 2016. Suggested retail $19.95

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Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

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.