Coffeehouse Knits

Kerry Bogert, Editor

March 19, 2019

Interweave

Blurb: Inspired by the ritual of sipping and stitching, Coffeehouse Knits is a stimulating collection of knitwear with an extra shot of something special. Whether you’re joining friends at the coffee shop for community knitting or you’re home enjoying the first cup of the day, perk up your knitting with:

• 20 patterns that range in skill level from advanced beginner to intermediate–macchiato to espresso.
• Simple touches evoke the idea of everyone’s favorite drink, from steaming swirls around a sweater yoke to coffee bean inspired motifs.
• Stirring essays from knitters explore community, connection, and caffeine.

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SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEW

I started knitting again for the second time around 13 years ago when all of those eyelash yarns became a big deal. You might remember a lot of people wearing those soft fluttery scarves. Books like Stitch ‘n Bitch were making knitting cool and knitting groups were popping up all over and fortunately they still exist. Knitting books were the way to go if you wanted patterns in one place so I bought many. Unfortunately, I found that I bought a book for one, two, or three really cool patterns and then the book ended up in the background on my shelf. And then Ravelry came along and books almost became a thing of the past for knitters, or at least for this knitter.

Coffeehouse Knits is a different kind of knitting book for this reader. Alongside the patterns are essays by some of the patterns creators telling how they became knitters or what knitting communities mean to them. And the patterns! The patterns are as yummy as some decadent coffee drinks.

The patterns are not overly complex so a few can be done by beginning knitters, which is always nice to find. What impressed me most were the sweater patterns. I am not big on knit sweaters because while most look great on the super-thin models, they end up looking clunky on the average wearer. These, however, might just change my mind.

The cowl and scarf patterns are luscious. The Fudge Swirl scarf, which uses cables is a fascinating design that looks like it would be as much fun to wear and it would be to knit. As for cables, if you knit, you know they’re not hard, they deliver a great look, but I sometimes find them tedious. And, I see a hat in my future.

All in all, Coffeehouse Knits has some very accessible and fun patterns and most are for portable objects, like cowls, hats, socks. The photography is great, just as you’d expect from Interweave. I think that this would make a great addition to anyone’s knitting library.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

rating:

4 out of 5 butterflies