Knits Inspired by a Book Series

December 2, 2024 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

I hadn’t heard of Laura Sebastian’s fantasy series Castles in Their Bones until I stumbled upon Mary P. Hunt’s knitting patterns inspired by the series, but if you’re already a fan (of this series in particular or fantasy in general) you’re sure to enjoy these designs.

The book series, in case you’re curious, follows triplet princesses who each marry a prince on their 16th birthday as part of their mother’s master plan to take over the whole continent of Vesteria. (Thanks, GoodReads!)

I don’t know how I found the (all these links ahead are to Ravelry, FYI) Star-Touched Hat knitting pattern, but it was the first one I saw. There’s also a coordinating cowl and mittens if you want to complete the full set.

All of them prominently feature stars and have a sort of Art Deco feel. They call for DK weight yarn in two colors, so you could make them all to match or use different colors for each.

The hat comes in five sizes, ranging in circumference from 18.5 to 22.3 inches (or 47 to 57 cm). It can be worked with a short brim or a folded brim.

The mittens come in small and large adult sizes, with extended sizes for both (more length is included in the extended sizes). These feature a cool Latvian braid at the top of the cuff, which is a fun skill to learn.

And the cowl is one size, on the smaller side as cowls go, measuring about 13.5 inches/34.5 cm tall and 26 inches/66 cm around.

The designer suggests you can hold a bit of metallic thread along with your yarn to give it more of a sparkly, regal, celestial feel, but that’s totally up to you!

As mentioned above you can get all of these patterns on Ravelry. As of this writing there doesn’t seem to be a discount from buying all three, but maybe that will change.

[Photo: Mary P. Hunt]

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Learn All About Ribbing (+ a Free Pattern to Try)

It might sound weird to you, but one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns is ribbing. I find it kind of fun to knit, because it feels mechanical after a while and I don’t really have to think about it, but it makes a texture that’s more interesting than stockinette stitch.

Over at Our Daily Craft I recently wrote a giant post all about knitting ribbing that includes most of what I know on the subject. There’s a fun variation on the cable cast on that is perfect for using with ribbing, tips on how to follow the stitch pattern, binding off in pattern and more.

I even talk about everyone’s least favorite part of knitting ribbing, which is what to do when you have to increase or decrease in ribbing (short answer: it’s going to mess up your pattern but it will also be OK).

I also share a few of my favorite ribbing patterns, because of course it doesn’t have to be knit 1, purl 1 or knit 2, purl 2 all the time. (In fact my favorite is probably 3×3. I find it super fun and love the texture of the fabric.)

You can check out the post all about ribbing here.

And if you’re ready to try an allover ribbed project yourself, check out my ribbed cowl knitting pattern. This one is fun because it starts out being knit flat and ends up in the round, so it opens up over your shoulder for easy wearing but is snuggly as a turtleneck at the top.

This one uses worsted weight yarn and is pretty quick and easy to knit. It’s a good one to try if you’ve never done a project in the round because you don’t have to worry about twisting the cast on since you’ll have already knit flat for several inches before you join. (Of course you could work the whole thing flat and make a seam where you want it to be closed, but knitting in the round is easier.)

Do you have a favorite rib stitch? I’d love to hear about it!

Practice Ribbing with this Hat and Mitt Set

Have You Tried This? Ribbing with No Purling

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