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Book Review: Urban Knit Collection

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Urban Knit Collection reviewI’m not sure why it is that knitters find inspiration in architecture and the urban landscape. The shapes of archways, gates and buildings seem to make a natural translation into cables, textured stitches and colorwork patterns, as well as sometimes being reflected in the shape of garments themselves.

Kyle Kunnecke takes inspiration from cities and architectural styles in his book Urban Knit Collection: 18 City-Inspired Knitting Patterns for the Modern Wardrobe.

The book is full of shawls, scarves, cowls and sweaters, mostly for women but with some garments and accessories for men as well. He talks about his projects as being involved or time consuming rather than difficult, and instead of including a skill level he lists the skills needed to complete a project, which helps the knitter know if they are ready or need to build some other skills first. Some of the techniques are found at the back of the book or explained in sidebars.

Many of the projects are quite detailed, like the D’Amour wrap, worked totally in stranded colorwork that is almost symmetrical but isn’t quite, and which requires seven charts; or the Sunburst shawl, a half-circle speckled with more than 4,000 seed beads.

Some of my favorite projects include the Arabella pullover, a pretty, lacy pullover with the pattern stitch on the front and back and one panel running down the ribbed sleeves; the Savoy cardigan, a boldly patterned design of lines and curves that repeats all over; the Apollo wrap, a giant, Art Deco, Garter Stitch Wrap that will warm up the coolest days; and the Ellington mittens, with a pretty chevron design and a cute button and loop to keep the mittens together when not being worn. (Check out all the projects on Ravelry.)

This is a fun book for knitters who like projects with a lot of detail and interesting inspiration. Fans of architecture and the urban environment are sure to find something they want to knit here.

About the book: 160 pages, paperback, 18 patterns. Published September 2016 by Interweave/F+W. Retail price $26.99.

Looking for more knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get, well, knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next.

Looking for Yarn online? Check out Lionbrand our preferred source for purchasing yarn online.

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Stacking Stars Knitting Pattern

There are so many things I love about the Stacking Stars pattern from Frankie Brown.

First, it looks like a kid’s toy, which it totally could be, though the intent is to stack the stars into a Christmas tree bit of decor.

I love the rainbow gradient, which makes it all the more cheerful, and serves as a reminder that, while you can plan out your colors beautifully, you can also use your stash for your own brilliant hodgepodge of a star tree.

It includes patterns for nine different sizes of stars, from 2 inch to 6 inch, which makes the perfect pile to look like a tree. What’s more, these stars are worked in garter stitch, so it’s a pretty easy pattern, even if you’re new to knitting. And the stars are solid, so not only can you use them to make your own amazing stack of a tree, you can make more to decorate packages, use as Christmas tree ornaments, make a darling garland, or all of the above.

The pattern calls for DK weight yarn but of course you could play with the yarn weight, too, to make stars that are even larger or smaller than the ones shown. And the bigger ones are made by just working more repeats, so you could continue to work as established to make larger ones to suit all your crafty purposes if you like.

Frankie’s patterns are free on Ravelry, but they ask that people who enjoy their patterns send a donation to the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation. Through the years they have raised more that £26,000 for the charity, which helps families of kids with liver disease. You can donate to Frankie’s fundraiser here. They have tons of great holiday projects and other designs you can check out on their designer page on Ravelry.

[Photo: Frankie Brown]

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