Book Review: Magical Knits from the North

If you like your knitting with a touch of the mystical, you’ll love Magical Knits from the North by Katinka Sarjanoja and Meri Mort. This collection of 19 knitting patterns includes socks, mitts, hats, a couple of sweaters, shawls and more with a mythological, magical inspiration.

Each pattern in the book is accompanied by a poem (or spell, if you want to keep the magic going) based on the Finnish-Karelian oral tradition preserved in Finnish folk music. They call on the maker to meditate on the recipient of their work and add good wishes for them as you knit.

The patterns are colorful and detailed and would probably be best for intermediate to advanced knitters. All of the patterns include colorwork and some involve several pages of charts. Most of the patterns (including one of the sweaters) come in only one size, while a few have two sizes.

Some of my favorites include Euphoria, above-the-knee socks that feature a snake slithering up the leg; Valkyrie, a shawl covered with feathers; Messenger, little fingerless mitts worked in three colors with moths on the backs of the hands; Will-o’-the-wisp, socks decorated with trees and delicate spirits of the night forest; Thought and Memory, a pair of mittens decorated with ravens; and Bee Sting, ankle socks with bees on the top of the feet and a honeycomb design on the bottom.

As of this writing the book hadn’t been released and was not yet on Ravelry, but if I find it there I’ll share a link so you can see the patterns.

The patterns were also designed with the environment in mind and mostly use local Finnish yarn (as well as other plastic free options), which means you’ll need to do some work to find substitute yarns unless you happen to live in Finland. All the information you need about each yarn is included so you can make thoughtful substitutions based on what’s local to you.

If you love the idea of adding a bit of magic to your makes, and particularly like projects with animal motifs and lots of colorwork, you’re sure to enjoy this collection.

About the book: 144 pages, hardcover, 18 patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles, suggested retail price $24.99.

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.

Have you read?