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Knitting Outside the Box
Drawing on what inspires her most when designing and teaching, this book will include exercises to help you explore beyond the boundaries of traditional techniques, push your creativity,manipulate fabric and with a little sprinkling of maths, help you put it all together. It will also include plenty of patterns by Bristol using the techniques explained in the book, all in her geometric and elegant style.
200 pages, Hardcover
Published November 22, 2017
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 15, 2017
The word "pattern" suggests following rules, but Bristol Ivy's inspiring new book of patterns is all about breaking the rules. Knitting Outside the Box features a number of imaginative patterns, such as a cardigan with epaulet details, or a shawl inspired by snowdrifts--each named for a ground-breaking artist, explorer, or scientific pioneer. But this book also contains strategies for reinventing the whole idea of patterns, with a freeing and confidence-building approach reminiscent of Elizabeth Zimmermann.
Bristol Ivy describes the artistic potential inherent in creating mash-ups, combining attributes of different knitting patterns to create something new. Then she moves to what she calls mad libs, which "force us to think about combinations that we may not have come up with on our own, or constructions we'd never otherwise try . . . [allowing] us to interpret our own preferences and interests through a helpful framework." If we're making a shawl, why not swap out stitch patterns, or replace the cables, or knit the garment sideways? What would happen? In "Colouring Inside the Lines," Ivy invites us to take a basic shape (like a rectangle) and treat its interior like a mosaic for improvisational piecing, filling it with curving shapes and intersecting wedges.
How to create all these interesting shapes? Ivy shares numerous techniques for manipulating fabric, through increases & decreases, stitch patterns, and the use of short rows. A particular rate of increase or decrease, she points out, will control the resulting shape of a knitted section, as will the use of short rows. Stitch patterns, on the other hand, will variously compress or expand the fabric, with cable patterns and welts compressing the gauge while lace stitches add height. Ivy provides a descriptive (and clearly photographed) Stitch Dictionary in this section which categorizes stitches according to whether they compress lengthwise, compress widthwise, elongate, etc.
Reading this beautifully photographed book, knitters will find elegant garment patterns with intriguing construction. But they may also gain the confidence required to create their own sculptural patterns and knit outside the box.
Bristol Ivy describes the artistic potential inherent in creating mash-ups, combining attributes of different knitting patterns to create something new. Then she moves to what she calls mad libs, which "force us to think about combinations that we may not have come up with on our own, or constructions we'd never otherwise try . . . [allowing] us to interpret our own preferences and interests through a helpful framework." If we're making a shawl, why not swap out stitch patterns, or replace the cables, or knit the garment sideways? What would happen? In "Colouring Inside the Lines," Ivy invites us to take a basic shape (like a rectangle) and treat its interior like a mosaic for improvisational piecing, filling it with curving shapes and intersecting wedges.
How to create all these interesting shapes? Ivy shares numerous techniques for manipulating fabric, through increases & decreases, stitch patterns, and the use of short rows. A particular rate of increase or decrease, she points out, will control the resulting shape of a knitted section, as will the use of short rows. Stitch patterns, on the other hand, will variously compress or expand the fabric, with cable patterns and welts compressing the gauge while lace stitches add height. Ivy provides a descriptive (and clearly photographed) Stitch Dictionary in this section which categorizes stitches according to whether they compress lengthwise, compress widthwise, elongate, etc.
Reading this beautifully photographed book, knitters will find elegant garment patterns with intriguing construction. But they may also gain the confidence required to create their own sculptural patterns and knit outside the box.
June 14, 2018
Bristol Ivy is a designer you may have encountered (on Ravelry, her most popular pattern has been posted as a project 751 times, and another has been favourited 10,220 times. If you're unused to Ravelry, a project is your own whack at a particular pattern. People can favourite your version of the pattern).
When I started knitting, lo these many years ago, I imagined knitting some wonderful three-dimensional weird angular yet curving Yohji Yamamoto-like garments ... never realising (a) it would take forever, (b) that might not be the designer I meant, maybe Rei Kawakaba?, and (c) isn't crochet better for that anyway? So I turned to more attainable hats and dishcloths, as one does.
And yet, I dreamed. I dreamed of just plunging in and experimenting with weird and unusual construction. What would happen if I did a whole bunch of yarnovers at once and then upon approaching them in the next round knit some together, dropped a few, knit the rest together, etc. What if I knit the next stitch together with some stitch, say, five rows below it? What would happen? And, the perennial question, what do short rows do? And do they get wider or narrower (it's confusing) and if so, why?
Bristol Ivy is a dreamer like me, but unlike me she appears to have found the time to try out all these experiments and more. Her book is approximately 1/4 musings and reports of her discoveries, and 3/4 patterns based on these discoveries. I still want to experiment for myself, but it can be a guided experimentation, based on her examples, rather than me blindly groping to some desired but ill-glimpsed effect.
So, highly recommended, as not-your-usual-book on knitting.
(Cribbed from my blog on knitting: www.unclestashley.com)
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
When I started knitting, lo these many years ago, I imagined knitting some wonderful three-dimensional weird angular yet curving Yohji Yamamoto-like garments ... never realising (a) it would take forever, (b) that might not be the designer I meant, maybe Rei Kawakaba?, and (c) isn't crochet better for that anyway? So I turned to more attainable hats and dishcloths, as one does.
And yet, I dreamed. I dreamed of just plunging in and experimenting with weird and unusual construction. What would happen if I did a whole bunch of yarnovers at once and then upon approaching them in the next round knit some together, dropped a few, knit the rest together, etc. What if I knit the next stitch together with some stitch, say, five rows below it? What would happen? And, the perennial question, what do short rows do? And do they get wider or narrower (it's confusing) and if so, why?
Bristol Ivy is a dreamer like me, but unlike me she appears to have found the time to try out all these experiments and more. Her book is approximately 1/4 musings and reports of her discoveries, and 3/4 patterns based on these discoveries. I still want to experiment for myself, but it can be a guided experimentation, based on her examples, rather than me blindly groping to some desired but ill-glimpsed effect.
So, highly recommended, as not-your-usual-book on knitting.
(Cribbed from my blog on knitting: www.unclestashley.com)
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
June 21, 2020
I love the concept of this book and it was fascinating to see how a design is formed. Unfortunately the patters and design techniques used are just not me. The explanations don't resonate with me. Would still 100% recommend the book, the rating is just based on my enjoyment of it.
November 30, 2017
If you like your knitting with a side of thinking and a monumental amount of creativity, get this book. Bristol Ivy is a one-of-a-kind designer, she blew my mind.
April 5, 2018
Unique
August 28, 2018
Excellent explanation of knitting design. Also includes a stitch dictionary and some gorgeous patterns.
October 30, 2025
Wow! She is quite a technical designer. My favorite project in the book is the Arbus Pullover.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews