Runway Knits: 30 Fashion-Forward Designs

by Berta Karapetyan

For more than two decades, New York City fashion maven Berta Karapetyan has been creating gorgeous high-end knit-wear, designing awe-inspiring sweaters, and working as a technical knitwear developer for the likes or more than two decades, New York City fashion maven Berta Karapetyan has been creating gorgeous high-end knit-wear, designing awe-inspiring sweaters, and working as a technical knitwear developer for the likes of Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein, as well as Banana Republic and Gap. Now, after founding the highly successful and inventive yarn company Karabella Yarns, Berta focuses her keen designer’s eye on the sophisticated knitting patterns revealed here in Runway Knits .

From ruffled sweaters to fur-trimmed scarves and serious jackets, there’s something for everyone in this stunning collection of thirty designs. The book is divided into four spirited, featuring bold and adventurous outfits that demand attention; playful, which includes lively and eye-catching items of all kinds; demure, designs for the modest girls or those who just like to play coy; and driven, outfits for career-minded women.

Packed with plenty of lavish color photographs as well as clear techniques and construction methods for creating thirty must-have designs, Runway Knits is sure to inspire any level of knitter—novice, intermediate, or expert.

From ruffled sweaters to fur-trimmed scarves and serious jackets, there’s something for everyone in this stunning collection of thirty designs. The book is divided into four spirited, featuring bold and adventurous outfits that demand attention; playful, which includes lively and eye-catching items of all kinds; demure, designs for the modest girls or those who just like to play coy; and driven, outfits for career-minded women.

Packed with plenty of lavish color photographs as well as clear techniques and construction methods for creating thirty must-have designs, Runway Knits is sure to inspire any level of knitter—novice, intermediate, or expert.

Genres: Knitting, Crafts, Nonfiction, Fashion

176 pages, Hardcover

First published April 17, 2007

Reviews

[Ligaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised at how many designs I liked in this book—I flagged NINE garments!—as I'm rereading this book many years after having first purchased it. I was totally expecting this to go in my give/sell Kondo pile as the author was always not a great retailer (read: bitch) towards me whenever I shopped her store in NYC. But some of them are real beauties! (Some look old-fashioned, too. Seafoam Top, Hamptons Dress.) I cannot speak to the correctness or ease of the pattern writing, but likely NOT easy since most patterns are in text form only. There are at least schematics. I've also never knit with Karabella Yarn, finding it also old-fashioned... So, I'll have to do some substitutions there. Beautiful photography that doesn't always show the garment the way a knitter would like. I think most of these designs are for intermediate knitters.

[Rieddhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a lot of the patterns in this book, and am currently knitting my first project from here—the Diamond Top.

I would hate knitting the top had I not done two things. First, I used Excel to create a chart of the stitch pattern, including the selvage stitch, the pattern repeat (surrounded by a thick border to mark it as the repeat), and what to do with the last ten stitches of every row. Second, I am knitting the body in the round. This way, I can ensure I knit the same number of rows for the ribbing for the front and back, and that both pieces are identical when they're supposed to be. I'll start knitting flat when I get to the armholes, but for now, knitting in the round is making this project a breeze. Knitting in the round also means I don't have sew up as many seams. I hate doing that and end up doing it sloppily. This way, I can avoid it!

So, the patterns are a bit tedious to get through, but if you do some work charting out the patterns and figuring how to make things simpler, they're a lot easier to work with.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of knits. All use Karabella yarns however substitution doesn't seem to be a problem.

One thing I don't like is that the patterns are written without repeating the identical pattern rows meaning that line 1 can be for rows 1, 5,9 etc, line 2 covers rows 2,4,6,8,10,12 and line 3 covers rows 3,7,11. This can make reading the pattern a bit confusing.

Currently working on the Ingenue hat, I plan on making a few more items from this book.

[whimsicalmeerkat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really beautiful patterns, including a scarf I gave to a friend for Christmas. Definitely worth what I paid for it out of the remainder bin! ;) Also decidedly expensive patterns if one chose to use the sort of yarn it asks for.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes knit designs can be a little bit cheesy or look like the kind of things you would wear with mom jeans...these are all cute, and most of the patterns are things I would actually wear!

[Margot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful patterns. All made with Karabella yarn, because the author is the founder of Karabella.

[Jianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the patterns are spectacular, some don't work out at all or have errors.
Sizes run small at gauge. Be wary but you might come up with something beautiful!

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some lovely projects that I'd never wear...