New Knitting Books for Fall 2020
When the seasons change, so does knitwear fashion. And with new knits also come new knitting books!
New knitting book releases give us a glimpse of what's trending in knitting patterns, styles, and techniques right now. On the other hand, new knitting books can also start a brand new trend: Nancy Marchant's groundbreaking Knitting Fresh Brioche, published in 2014, began the whole brioche knitting resurgence that is still on-going.
Let's take a peek at upcoming knitting book releases for Fall 2020 with Amazon's Coming Soon list.
Colorwork is King
If it hasn't already been obvious from the massive increase in colorwork yoke sweaters, fair isle knitting and stranded colorwork are what the cool kids are knitting these days. Out of the 30+ titles on the list, around a third have something to do with either colorwork knitting or colorwork designing in some shape or form.
The ones that look the most intriguing to me are The Colorwork Bible: Techniques and Projects for Colorful Knitting by Jesie Ostermiller, Fair Isle Knitting and Design by Nicki Merrall, and Saltwater Classics: Caps, Vamps and Mittens from the Island of Newfoundland by Christine LeGrow and Shirley Scott.
To help you come up with your own colorwork patterns and designs, Vogue is coming out with Vogue Knitting Colorwork Paper with 90+ pages of special colorwork paper that features V-shaped stitch outlines rather than rectangles.
Knitting is the New <Insert Movement Here>
Knitting has been the new yoga for the past decade or so. This fall knitting is also the new mindfulness with Hannah Thiessen's Seasonal Slow Knitting: Thoughtful Projects for a Handmade Year. This book approaches knitting from a sustainability and seasonality point-of-view, kind of like a farmer's almanac.
Knitting is seen as a powerful healing force for our bodies, minds, and culture in Loretta Napoleoni's The Power of Knitting: Stitching Together Our Lives in a Fractured World. To quote the book description: "In a fractured world plagued by anxiety and loneliness, knitting is coming to the rescue of people from all walks of life."
And to counterpoint all the thoughtful and peaceful, knitting is seen as a form of rebellion in Anna Bauer's Alterknit Rebellion: Radical Patterns for Creative Knitters. This book is inspired by the Danish 1970s movement of Hönsestrikk ('chicken knitting') that wanted to break away from the conventional fair-isle rules regarding, for example, motifs and use of color.
TV & Movie Inspired Knits
The biggest influences that make knitting become more visible often come from the entertainment industry. Remember the Hunger Games half-ponchos? Or the shawls from Little Women? Outlander Knitting: The Official Book of 20 Knits Inspired by the Hit Series, edited by Kate Atherley, is a surefire best-seller.
With Covid stopping production across the globe it's uncertain when Season 6 will hit TV screens. (I personally never made it past Season 1.) Outlander Knitting, however, comes out on October 27, 2020.
What's the knitting book you're anticipating the most? Sound off in the comments! 👇
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Hi Susanna,
These are very interesting ! I already saw the book by Loretta Napoleoni, in the Italian version. I had the idea it was more about the history of knitting. Will look into it again. But I am really attracted to the book by Hannah Tiessen. Thank you for the nice list !
Greetings , Marleen