Knitting Book Review: Leave Me Alone!

I know, this doesn’t sound like a knitting book. Bear with me.

I was looking through the Publishers Weekly best books of the year lists and this one caught my eye in the children’s book list. I was a little ashamed I hadn’t heard of it earlier, because it combines two of my family’s favorite passions: fiber arts and science fiction. And reading, for that matter.

Leave Me Alone! by Vera Brogsol is a story I think we can all relate to this time of year.

Winter is coming, and grandma has a lot of knitting to do. Her gaggle of grandkids need new sweaters for the season, but she just can’t seem to get any knitting done.

Her grandchildren were curious about her knitting.
Were you supposed to hit the ball with a stick?
Could you eat it?
Could you make your brother eat it?
Why did the ball get smaller as you chased it?

She tries to find some more privacy by going out into the woods and climbing the mountain, but animals turn out to be as curious as grandchildren.

So she walks to the top of the mountain and onto the moon, which is no help, but finally finds the peace she’s looking for in the void on the other side of a wormhole.

This book is really cute, both the story and the illustrations, and if you knit for kids who are picture book aged they’re sure to love it. Or gift it to a friend who is always knitting for other people.

Have you read this book? I’d love to know what you thought of it!

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Beautiful people and beautiful sweaters combine in Lasse L. Matberg’s Viking Knits. The book includes more than 40 Scandinavian inspired knits for men, women and children featuring textured stitches and colorwork.

Matberg is known as The Viking and has worked as a chef, naval officer, fitness instructor and model, as well as being on a couple of reality TV shows. He comes from a long line of makers and his book was first published in Norwegian in 2021 and has since come out in an English version.

The book is divided into sections including everyday sweaters, knits for the great outdoors, stylish knitwear, Norse sweaters and accessories. Some of the patterns use the same designs in different versions for men, women and children. I counted seven projects rated for beginners, 19 for intermediate knitters and 17 for experienced knitters. The more difficult patterns tend to have allover colorwork or stitch patterning.

The pattern stitches and colorwork are shown in charts, with a little bit of text to tell you how to make the garment. Most of the book is sweaters, but there are also hats (sometimes coordinating with sweaters), scarves and a couple of sitting mats.

You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry. Some of my favorites are the more basic ones, such as the Power Sweater, a close-fitting (sized for men) ribbed sweater; the Heart Sweater, a raglan with allover lice stitch; and the Midsummer Sweater, with textured stripes and a henley neckline. I also like the Breeze designs (there are versions for men, women and children) that have colorwork diamonds on them.

Sizing on the garments varies, but there are six sizes for the men’s patterns (noted as small through XXL and then Lasse sized), six for women (XS to XL) and three for children (age 2-4, 6-8 and 10-12).

The yarns used in the book aren’t available in the United States but you can find suppliers here if you want to use the same yarns. Otherwise the book gives a lot of details about yarn content and gauge so you should be able to find good substitutes wherever you live.

If you have Norwegian or Scandinavian heritage or just like the look of cozy textured or colorful sweaters, this book is a lot of fun, and the eye candy is pretty great, too.

About the book: 192 pages, hardcover, 43 patterns. Published in English in 2023 by Search Press. Suggested retail price $29.95.

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