We review a collection of stranded colourwork knits
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has been flying off the shelves of yarn shops since it was published, and with good reason: it’s a simply stunning collection of stranded colourwork projects. Finnish designer Anna Johanna has filled her debut book with sophisticated colour palettes, elegant details, and wearable shapes. It’s stylishly presented, too, in a cloth-bound, hardback format.
The collection offers 20 projects for sweaters and cardigans, a hat, a dress, and a child’s pullover. All the women’s patterns are sized up to at least a 62in bust. As you’d expect, a significant number of the designs involve knitting in the round and steeking.
In her foreword, Anna Johanna admits to preferring muted shades and harmonious colour combinations, so there is no wildly bright colourwork in this book. Instead, palettes are sophisticated and elegant; the ‘Maija’ long cardigan with chevron bands looks smart in grey, white and black, for example, although it could be easily adapted in brighter hues if you prefer.
Nature motifs feature prominently in the collection. There is a chic cropped jumper with a stylised pattern of reeds, and a gorgeous top-down sweater with leaves cascading from the yoke. ‘Clover’ is a boxy cardigan with a shawl collar and little clover motifs around the waist. The ‘Woodland’ cardigan has a patterned band depicting bears strolling through the forest. For her ‘Lehto’ leaf-patterned top, Anna has also designed a child’s version for ages six months to 12 years.
A variety of rose patterns appears in the book: ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’ is a raglan jumper with a floral band around the bottom, and ‘Rose Hip’ has a rose motif worked in a self-striping yarn.
Among our favourite designs is ‘Weightless’, a top-down seamless jumper with a feather-bedecked yoke knitted in a 4ply yarn. The yoked ‘Juxtaposition’ jumper has an all-over colourwork pattern which uses a gradient yarn set for an interesting effect. We also like the richness of the three-colour pattern band on the ‘Hearts on a String’ sweater, which was inspired by damask fabrics.
This book is sure to delight and inspire fans of stranded colourwork knitting, and we think every single project will be a joy to knit and wear.