Review: The Art of Landscape Knitting

Nature has a lot to offer in the way of inspiration to artists, and knitters are no exception. Anne Le Brocq used textures from the sea, forest, mountains and more to develop textured stitch patterns she shares in her book The Art of Landscape Knitting.

The patterns are arranged in different themes: terrain, beach, forest, mountain and weather. Each section includes patterns that evoke different things you might find in those areas. For example the forest section includes patterns designed to look like beech, maple or oak tree trunks, as well as large, medium and small versions of the leaves of each of those trees. There are also designs with a mix of leaves. The weather chapter has designs for rain and a variety of clouds.

Each of the patterns is written out in words and shown in a chart. You can work an individual square and combine different patterns into a blanket, or work a pattern as a panel to combine with panels of other stitches and colors, or you can knit a blanket using one allover pattern. The stitches are mostly all knits and purls so they are suitable for knitters of any skill level.

In addition to the blocks themselves, there are seven blanket designs that combine elements to show you how it might be done. You can stitch them as presented or sub in your favorite designs to make a blanket all your own.

The blanket pictured on the cover is called Sunny Beach, and it uses six different designs that can be worked either as individual blocks or in panels. Other designs evoke a summer mountain, stormy beach, bluebells in the spring woods, the deciduous woodland, a snowy mountain (the only blanket shown worked in a single color) and a pebbly beach. A few of the patterns can be see on Ravelry.

The patterns as shown use DK weight yarn, but you can use heavier or lighter weight yarn and adjust your sizing accordingly to make a blanket or squares the size you want.

These patterns are pretty and are sure to get knitters thinking about how to preserve their local landscape or a treasured place in knitting. You could make a cloud-covered baby blanket, a throw covered with fall-colored leaves, or a beach scene complete with footprints, pebbles and waves.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 50 swatches and 7 blanket patterns. Published 2023 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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Knitwear designers can get inspiration from almost anything when it comes to re-creating a color scheme, an image or a texture in stitches. Sometimes the inspiration isn’t always obvious in the finished project, but sometimes it’s more literal.

That’s the way it is with the Tin Ceiling Blanket from Purl Soho. Not just because the inspiration is in the name, but if you’ve ever seen one of these old ceilings you can see that the design of the blanket is quite similar to the pattern of the tin tiles.

This is also a good example of the idea that you don’t have to use fancy stitch patterns or lots of color to make a big impact with your knits. This single-color blanket (designed by Gianna Mueller and inspired by a washcloth and towel set designed by Sandi Rosner) is made completely with knits and purls, other than slipped stitches at the beginning of rows to make neater edges.

The pattern is written out row by row, but there’s also a chart, which means this project is a great opportunity to practice reading a chart where you can check your work against the written pattern if you need to.

It comes in two sizes, a crib blanket and a throw. The yarn used in the sample is an organic cotton sold by the cone, which is a great way to get a large quantity of yarn and have fewer ends to weave in. In fact, you can knit either size of the blanket with just one cone of yarn, which isn’t inexpensive but makes you a great, sturdy, heirloom quality but still washable blanket you’ll use for years to come. (Of course you can use any sport weight yarn you like to make this blanket.)

Check out all the details and grab the free pattern from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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