Book Review: Knitting Peter Rabbit

The characters developed by Beatrix Potter may be even more well-known than the stories about them. The classic illustrations in her books have a timeless appeal, and now you can knit 12 of those characters with help from Claire Garland’s Knitting Peter Rabbit.

These designs are incredibly detailed and definitely not for people who have never knit animals before. Many parts of the patterns involve holding two strands of yarn at a time to give the animal’s fur the right texture. There are also felt garments for the characters to make them look even more like the original illustrations.

Because I’m sure you’ll want to know, here’s the full list of characters in the book:

Peter Rabbit
Benjamin Bunny
Flopsy Bunny
Jemima Puddle-Duck
Mrs. Tiggy-winkle
Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Tom Kitten
Squirrel Nutkin
The Tailor of Gloucester
Samuel Whiskers
Mr. Tod the fox
Tommy Brock the badger

My favorite is probably Mrs. Tiggy-winkle, the adorable hedgehog laundress. She has a little knit sweater and a felt apron and is just so cute. (You can see a few of the patterns on the book’s Amazon listing.)

But honestly they’re all pretty adorable, and the whole set would be great to knit for someone of any age who loves these stories. Or if they don’t already love them, knit up a character and gift it along with the book in which they appear and you’ll make a fan in no time.

The designs are very faithful to the original illustrations and the level of detail is amazing, but well worth the effort. She includes detailed finishing instructions and advises you to make good use of locking stitch markers as you knit to make it easier to know where pieces are supposed to go together when you’re doing the assembly. All the pieces are knit flat on straight needles, and there are templates in the back for making all the felt clothing and accessories.

For fans of Beatrix Potter, or just those who love adorable animals in human clothes, Knitting Peter Rabbit is a great guide to knitting these classic characters.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 12 patterns. Published 2023 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $29.99.

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I hadn’t heard of Laura Sebastian’s fantasy series Castles in Their Bones until I stumbled upon Mary P. Hunt’s knitting patterns inspired by the series, but if you’re already a fan (of this series in particular or fantasy in general) you’re sure to enjoy these designs.

The book series, in case you’re curious, follows triplet princesses who each marry a prince on their 16th birthday as part of their mother’s master plan to take over the whole continent of Vesteria. (Thanks, GoodReads!)

I don’t know how I found the (all these links ahead are to Ravelry, FYI) Star-Touched Hat knitting pattern, but it was the first one I saw. There’s also a coordinating cowl and mittens if you want to complete the full set.

All of them prominently feature stars and have a sort of Art Deco feel. They call for DK weight yarn in two colors, so you could make them all to match or use different colors for each.

The hat comes in five sizes, ranging in circumference from 18.5 to 22.3 inches (or 47 to 57 cm). It can be worked with a short brim or a folded brim.

The mittens come in small and large adult sizes, with extended sizes for both (more length is included in the extended sizes). These feature a cool Latvian braid at the top of the cuff, which is a fun skill to learn.

And the cowl is one size, on the smaller side as cowls go, measuring about 13.5 inches/34.5 cm tall and 26 inches/66 cm around.

The designer suggests you can hold a bit of metallic thread along with your yarn to give it more of a sparkly, regal, celestial feel, but that’s totally up to you!

As mentioned above you can get all of these patterns on Ravelry. As of this writing there doesn’t seem to be a discount from buying all three, but maybe that will change.

[Photo: Mary P. Hunt]

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