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Book Review: Knitting the National Parks

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America’s National Parks have inspired artists and regular folks as long as they have existed, and Nancy Bates found inspiration from the parks for her knit hat collection Knitting the National Parks.

The book includes mostly colorwork hat patterns for each of 63 national parks, from the well known (Yosemite, Arches, the Petrified Forest) to the obscure (Isle Royale, Kobuk Valley, Voyageurs).

Each hat includes design elements drawn from the park itself, such as the pink bands of pegmatite found amid the darker rocks of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, or the ancient bristlecone pine tress of Great Basin.

Embellishments like bobbles, textured stitches and surface embroidery add more details to many of the hats.

These patterns are best for intermediate knitters because of all the colorwork and the fact that all patterns are charted. Almost all of the hats call for worsted weight yarn, and while many of the hats use between two and four colors, there are several that use more. (You can see many of the patterns on her website.)

The notes for each pattern explain what inspired it. Out of the context of the book, though, these are just nice hat patterns that don’t always read like they were inspired by a park. Acadia’s birch-patterned hat could be a blue sky with clouds if worked in another colorway, for example, while Wind Cave’s calcite formations look like animal print.

These hats are a great opportunity to plan with colorwork and other design elements even if the hat you like isn’t tied to a park you’ve been to. And learning more about the parks might just inspire a bit of wanderlust as you plan your next national park outing. Just don’t forget to pack your knitting!

About the Book: 272 pages, hardcover, 63 patterns. Published August 2022, Weldon Owen. Retail price $35.

Comments

  1. This is the first book I’ve paid RETAIL for in years. I love it. So many choices, such pretty patterns. Most of the kits [and there are not kits for every park yet] are sold out, which is too bad. Kits are $36/each. I plan on making some for various friends/family over the years.

Have you read?

Add Mushrooms to Your Knits with these Fun Knitting Patterns

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day. 

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details. 

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes. 

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult. 

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather. 

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size. 

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.