Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Get Yarn Inspired by a Book Cover

by

immortalists yarn bundleYarn dyers are inspired by many different things, from their favorite movies and TV shows to the colors right outside their doors.

I think this may be the first time, however, that I’ve heard of a yarn bundle being inspired by a book cover.

Though I have to say, this particular book cover is gorgeous.

I was sent a review copy of Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists, which has nothing to do with knitting, but Benjamin is a knitter and the cover is gorgeous (did I mention?) and it sounded like an interesting story so I read it and it was.

Short version is four kids go visit a gypsy whose special expertise is telling people the exact day they are going to die. The rest of the book is about how they live out the rest of their lives with that information, how it shapes who they become. It’s certainly dark but I enjoyed it.

Someone at Quince & Co. loves the book — or at least its cover — too, because they recently released an Immortalists bundle, which includes a cowl knitting pattern and skeins of six colors of yarn inspired by that dazzling cover designed by Sandra Chiu. Check out Benjamin writing about her writing and her knitting, and check out the bundle, too.

Have you read The Immortalists? Would you be more likely to read a book if you knew it was written by a knitter? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo via Quince & Co.]

Looking to buy your Yarn online? Check out these online yarn specials.

Specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get, well, knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next.

Check out these books dedicated to Knitted Cowl Patterns still looking for more cowl patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

Comments

  1. The colors are what makes this cowl, which are all favorites of mine. Very pretty and bright, just right for the fall and winter.

Have you read?

Easy Knit Baskets to Use All Your Stash

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts. 

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts. 

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects. 

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version. 

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want. 

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do. 

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like. 

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.