Book Review: The Knitter’s Activity Book

Remember activity books from when you were a kid? These books often included puzzles, games, stories and more to keep kids entertained while traveling or in periods of waiting.

Sincerely Louise (aka Louise Walker, author of Faux Taxidermy Knits) has brought this idea to the grown-up knitting world with her book The Knitter’s Activity Book.

The book includes patterns, stories, quizzes, puzzles and more to entertain and inspire knitters, though it definitely has a British vibe and the patterns are all animal related (not that that’s a bad thing).

What do I mean by British vibe? American knitters might not get all the trivia questions or pop culture references unless they are steeped in Brit knit designers and shows.

When it comes to the patterns, there are 20 in all, from the lobster dinner featured on the front cover to miniature faux taxidermy farm animal heads and triceratops slippers. A picture book style story about Lola the polar bear looking for a new home features lots of cute animals, from meerkats (one of my faves) to roosters and starfish.

You’ll also find puzzles, knitters math problems, a selection of Sincerely Louise fan and staff projects and more.

It’s a fun book for teens and beyond who already have knitting skills and a love for animal projects.

About the book: 112 pages, hardcover, 20 patterns, retail price $16.95. Publisher’s website

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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