Nordic Knits: 44 Beautiful Patterns to Knit and Keep You Cozy

by Sue Flanders, Janine Kosel, and Helene Magnusson

Bring the traditions of simple, design-led Nordic style to your knitting repertoire.

Nordic Knits is the complete collection of Nordic-inspired patterns that will bring the perfectly balanced, “less is more” Scandi sensibility to your knitting projects.This carefully researched book presents 44 knitted patterns inspired by this globally sought-after knitting tradition, including stylish, traditional projects from Sweden, Norway, and Iceland.

From beautifully patterned sweaters, shawls, mittens, and socks to a red nisse “elf” hat, Dala horse garland, a Viking-ship pillow, and tote bags, each pattern is inspired by a knitted item or artwork from a historical collection or museum.

To help you get the results you want, each project is partnered with:
 

• Complete illustrated patterns
• Four-color photography
• Schematics and diagrams
• Alternatives for yarns and needle weights and sizes
• A photo and brief history of the knitted artifact that inspired the pattern

The patterns range from simple to more complicated, making this a great book to grow your craft at the same time as creating beautiful and giftable knits. Forever in style and always cool, the Nordic-style knits are the perfect gift for friends and family—or just a great self-gift anytime!

Knit using traditional techniques as you work your way through these contemporary patterns based on historical practice.

• ISBN13: 9780760373552
• Publish Date: 15 February 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Voyageur Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Nordic Knits is a technique and pattern tutorial with patterns in Scandinavian style written and curated by Sue Flanders, Janine Kosel, & Helene Magnusson.Due out 15th March 2022 from Quarto on their Voyageur Press imprint, it's 192 pages and will be available in paperback format.

This is such an appealing collection with a wide range of classic styles and techniques. The pieces are knitted and embellished with needle-felting, surface embroidery, stranded colorwork, lacework, cables, and the garments themselves are full of clever shaping and construction details based on historical details and inspired by traditional nature or existing historical garments and design elements. Most of the projects are for accessories: socks, scarves, shawls, mittens, hats, and totes, but there are also a fair number of larger pieces such as pullovers, cardigans, and some nursery items.

The book is divided into regional designs: Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic. The projects include tools and supplies (measurements are provided in American standard inches -and- metric centimeters, yay!), step by step tutorial directions, and a short background note containing the design inspiration or historical background. Each project is clearly photographed in color and the models are posed in such a way that they're easy to understand and visualize. There are (by my count) 44 projects included, more or less evenly divided between countries.

One of the benchmarks of a good collection for me is paging through the book and finding many patterns which call to me and which I could see myself knitting. This collection is full of really nice patterns which I want to make. I knit several gauge swatches for projects in the book and found no obvious or glaring errors with any of them. The instructions are written clearly and concisely. Materials used in the patterns are from the larger/more well known spinneries and will be familiar to most readers and should be widely available. The authors have included an abbreviated links and resource list in the back of the book.

Five stars. Lovely designs, well executed.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.