Books to Inspire Your Lace Knitting

I’ve reviewed lots of really fun lace knitting books through the years, and if you’re the sort of person who still likes paper, these are some that you should check out to help you on your lace knitting journey.

Knitting Lace by Susanna E. Lewis is a totally amazing book that details the lace patterns found in a sampler from the 19th century housed in the Brooklyn Museum. Which doesn’t sound as dramatic as it is, because the sampler is 15 feet long, averages about 14 stitches per inch worked on 0000 US needles (1.25 mm) and includes 91 different lace patterns. It was never bound off. Lewis re-creates the patterns and includes a deep exploration of how lace knitting works. There’s also information on designing lace patterns. This one is definitely a must-read if you’re interested in lace.

If you’re looking for patterns that include lace, I like Knitted Lace by Anne Merrow, which has 25 patterns including sweaters, socks, hats, tops and more.

Donna Druchunas’ Successful Lace Knitting is kind of a combination of the two, offering garments and projects based on the work of Dorothy Reade, a prolific and creative lace knitter of the 1950s through 1970s. She was a big proponent of using charts to teach lace knitting because they’re a visual representation of the knit project and are less likely to have mistakes in them for that reason.

Do you have a favorite book about lace knitting? I’d love to hear about it!

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Sometimes I feel like knitters get intimidated to try new things because they think they need to start with a big project. Your first time working in the round doesn’t need to be a sock, and your first colorwork doesn’t need to be a sweater, for example. You can find little projects that use the skills you want to learn to build your confidence before you move on to something that requires more time commitment.

This adorable knit bunny, for example.

The colorwork bunny from Knit Picks was designed by Amy Munson and is a kind of bowling pin shaped bunny complete with a knit hat, contrasting inner ears and a little stranded colorwork on its body. Note that the ears are attached the the hat not the bunny, but you could stitch them to the bunny if you’d rather.

It’s worked from the bottom up and also has a tiny pompom tail you can’t see in the picture but it’s a really cute touch. There are a variety of little fair isle patterns to choose from to make the best bunny for you.

The bunny comes out about 8 inches tall (or just over 20 cm) and use several colors to complete the colorwork, depending on the design you choose.

You can purchase the pattern by itself from Knit Picks, or make a kit that includes sport weight yarn in all the colors you need for your creation. There are gray and brown options for the main body of the bunny, but of course if you’re using your own yarn you can make it whatever color you like.

Once you’ve tried colorwork (maybe also working in the round and shaping if those are skills you haven’t used before) in a little project like this you’ll be ready to take on something bigger in no time.

Check out the pattern on Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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