Review: Knitting Pleats

There are all sorts of fun ways to add texture to your knitting, and one really cool way to do it that a lot of knitters don’t play with much is knitting pleats.

Pleats are usually worked by knitting some length of knitting, picking up stitches somewhere down from the knitting needle and working the picked up stitches along with the live stitches to make a permanent fold in the knitting.

It’s a fun technique to play with, and Olga Pobedinskaya shares a lot of different ways to use it in her book Knitting Pleats: Stunning Garments and Accessories.

The book begins with general instructions on how to knit pleats and the different kinds of pleats that are possible. It covers some other special techniques before delving into the 17 projects (4 rated easy, 11 intermediate and 2 advanced).

There’s some really interesting stuff in here. Some of the projects that caught my eye include the Puffy Pleats Scarf, which uses mohair yarn and extra large pleats for fluffy texture; the fun shaped Concertina Bag, which folds like an accordion and offers lots of room for all your necessities; the Sectional Pleats T-Shirt, which actually comes off looking pretty simple with its pleats that work almost like darts; the Pleated-Trim Jacket, which uses pleats at the edges and down the center back for an architectural statement; and the Elongated-Back Pullover, a bulky high-low project that’s great for layering.

If you like knitting projects that are just a little different and that make a big fashion statement without too much work, this is a book well worth checking out.

Have you knit from it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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