Book Review: Two Needles, Many Knits

When I first picked up Quayln Stark’s Two Needles, Many Knits I assumed it was a book that was all patterns using straight knitting needles. It’s not, but it is full of easy to follow knitting instructions and simple patterns (mostly worked flat, though some are in the round) for beginners and those who want to increase their skills.

About half of the book is devoted to knitting skills, so if you’re a brand new knitter or you need to refresh your memory on the basics this is helpful. This covers things like necessary supplies, yarn weights, reading a yarn label, reading and following a pattern and English vs. continental knitting. Tutorials cover how to make a slip knot, long-tail cast on and backward loop cast on, binding off, knitting and purling in English and continental and making basic fabrics.

From there it goes into things like increases and decreases, lace knitting, picking up stitches, cables, finishing projects and fixing mistakes, to name a few. It’s a pretty solid overview of what you need to know to knit basic patterns and beyond.

Speaking of patterns, there are 15 patterns organized into three skill levels. The first three patterns — a garter stitch washcloth, a flat-knit hat in stockinette and a cowl worked in the round — are labeled as practice patterns and are good places to start if you’ve never knit a project before.

The other level one patterns include a sampler scarf, a ribbed pillow cover, a stockinette stitch headband worked flat and stitched into a tube and a tote bag made with garter stitch. Level two patterns are a scarf knit on the bias in multicolored yarn, an envelope purse in an easy textured stitch pattern, a corner to corner baby blanket with a hood added to one corner and a kid’s sized striped hat worked in the round.

Level three brings you a mesh lace shawl, a baby’s basketweave shirt (worked flat), cabled fingerless gloves worked in the round and an adult sized, raglan sleeved, collared pullover with a two-button closure, which brings together a bunch of skills. Honestly it’s not the easiest first sweater project you could try, but if you want to do it and follow along with all the techniques in the book you can pull it off.

There’s nothing super creative here but it’s a nice collection of solid patterns to practice and things you can use or gift as you learn. You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry.

I think this book would be a good place to start for someone who is somewhat new (or totally new) to knitting and wants a book for reference and some easy patterns to try. Supplement with videos for techniques you don’t get right away and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a more confident knitter.

About the book: 152 pages, paperback, 15 patterns. Published 2024 by Callisto Publishing. Suggested retail price $16.99.

It’s kind of coincidental that I recently posted about patchwork blanket knitting patterns right before reviewing a book that makes a patchwork blanket, but this one would also be a great choice if you’re looking to bust some stash and learn a lot about colorwork knitting at the same time.

Knit an Heirloom Blanket by Annah O’Leary includes charted designs for 50 colorwork blocks worked flat that can be combined to make a blanket or used in other projects. The book calls for worsted weight yarn but also offers suggestions for using fingering, DK or even bulky yarn, which will give you blocks of different sizes.

It opens with a section on materials and tips for choosing colors and maintaining contrast among blocks across a large project. There’s also information on how to read charts and colorwork basics such as maintaining tension, measuring gauge, catching floats, holding yarn and yarn dominance, among other things.

There are 196 squares (14 by 14) in the blanket shown on the cover, which, including the edging, makes for a blanket that’s about 79 inches, or 200 cm square knit in worsted weight yarn. You can adjust the size as needed by working more or fewer blocks, especially if using a different weight of yarn.

The sample was worked in Cascade 220 and the book includes the amounts of yarn used in each color so you can knit a blanket exactly as shown. Or use stash and leftovers from other projects to make a possibly less harmonious but more meaningful project.

Colorwork patterns are arranged into 10 themes: flowers, tiles, diamonds, stripes, peaks, woven, sky, leaves, lovestruck and architecture. They’re also rated by skill level on a range of 1 to 3 balls of yarn. If you’re newer to knitting or colorwork in particular, you can start with the easier squares and move up as you build more skills.

Each pattern is shown as a large black and white chart with three or four possible color variations, though or course you can also go your own way on the colors. There’s also a knit sample of each block pictured at the beginning of each pattern section.

There’s also a section to help you finish your blanket, including tips for weaving in ends, blocking, joining squares and adding a border. She also suggests different project sizes and color palettes for smaller scale projects.

In addition to the big blanket there are five other project ideas including a baby blanket made of 6 by 8 squares, a hot water bottle cover, a couple of pillows and a wall hanging. These are sure to give you ideas of different ways to use the blocks in other projects.

Knit an Heirloom Blanket includes lots of fun colorwork blocks and ideas for using them that are sure to appeal to those new to colorwork as well as those with more experience. Even if you never knit a full blanket with them, you can add these motifs to your collection to work in other projects.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 50 charts and 6 patterns. Published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $25.99.

Have you read?