Inca Knits – Knitting

The Incas, a culture and a people, have roots in small provincial towns, each with a unique language and history that is fascinating to outsiders. They were a democratic people who never allowed their Indian culture to be destroyed by conquerors. Their social and work cultures are as strong today as when they built astounding stone structures that cannot be replicated with today’s advanced technology. Llamas, cats, birds and many other animals as well as labyrinth motifs are often found in Latin American textiles and pottery.

This is the basis of Inca Knits. All of these geometrics and colors are combined to give this style a very unique signature.

But this isn’t just a project book. Techniques include stranded two-color knitting, double knitting, intarsia knitting and short row shaping. You will also learn new and innnovative uses of color and patterns, interesting construction and texture techniques and discover how to find inspiration in various landscapes, wildlife, textiles and even the pottery of the high Andes. Evey project in Inca Knits has a striking feature, be it an interesting combination of yarn and pattern, a clever use of stitch pattern, or an unusual form of construction. All patterns are knitter-friendly and contain detailed instructions.

This book is available from Interweave, here.

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

Comments

Karen Boivin says
February 16, 2011 at 12:32 pm
I love reading about and trying new patterns from different cultures. This looks very interesting, Karen
pelican knits says
March 15, 2011 at 5:05 am
hope I win
Kathryn says
March 27, 2011 at 1:15 pm
This sounds like a unique book. I am always interested in unique patterns.

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