Knitting

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Review: The Art of Landscape Knitting

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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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Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.