The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. The Empire City. I Knit New York contains ten knitting patterns inspired by the history and geography of the Capital of the World. We asked five of our favorite New Yorkers to design patterns and share their favorite New York secrets from subway to skyscraper.
Designers include Brittney Bailey (b.woolens/Purl Soho), Kathleen Dames (kathleen dames knitwear design), Kirsten Kapur (Through the Loops), Xandy Peters (creator of Fox Paws and other stacked stitches), and Lars Rains (Modern Lopi), plus an essay from Kay Gardiner (the Northern half of Mason-Dixon Knitting), a #buttonhunt in the Garment District with Kathleen Dames (host of The Sweater with Kathleen Dames podcast), and a multiborough yarn crawl with Lisa Chamoff (founder of Indie Untangled).
Want to know where to find the New York that the locals know and love? IKNY shares shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, museums, and more. And if you can't make it to the City, we include lists of our favorite books, movies, TV shows, and songs, so you can bring NYC home.
Patterns include:
- 42nd & Lex - open-front lace cardigan
- Brooklyn Botanic - lace beanie
- Go Lightly - boatneck pullover
- Jane Jacobs - three-color triangle shawl
- Lenox Avenue - cabled stocking cap
- Manhattanhenge - two-color cowl and gloves set
- Metropolitan Opera - stranded colorwork hat
- Opal Clock - cabled rectangular stole
- Rockefeller Center - bias top with openwork yoke
- Sheep Meadow - five-color funnel cowl
Yarns for all patterns provided by Backyard Fiberworks. Alice O'Reilly, the dyer behind Backyard Fiberworks, contributes an essay on color theory plus a guide to the various yarns used in I Knit New York.
Shot on location in Manhattan by award-winning photographer Gale Zucker. Illustrations by Laurel Johnson, Mountain Laurel Artwork.
Join One More Row Press on our very first Knit Like A Local adventure in New York City.
Dames, Kathleen: - Kathleen Dames focuses on flattering designs and knitterly details for the garments and accessories she creates for her own pattern line, as well as publications such as Knitty, Jane Austen Knits, and Interweave Knits. From her first large-scale knitting project (a poncho from Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting), she has been making patterns her own, thanks to her personal style and the wisdom of Elizabeth Zimmermann. Kathleen is cocreator of Filament, a quarterly knitting pattern collection filled of modern classics and a vintage sensibility, with Anne Podlesak of Wooly Wonka Fibers. She hosts the podcast The Sweater with Kathleen Dames on YouTube, where you will learn to knit a sweater in twelve weeks. Kathleen worked as an art director in book publishing for many years prior to embarking on a career in knitwear design. Having celebrated #tenyearsanewyorker in late 2017, she has lived there long enough to be a New Yorker but is still excited by all the wonders the city holds. Find more of her work at www.kathleendames.com.
O'Reilly, Alice: - Alice has always been a maker. A serious dyed in the wool, hot glue burns on her fingertips, glitter in her eyebrows maker. So when she first thought about dyeing yarn, it was in the context of making stuff to support her knitting habit. She fired up her first dye pot and wow, was it not what she expected. True to form, she did no research. It was way too light and way too dark and way too not what was expected. But, also true to form, she kept trying. Alice threw a few more skeins in the pot. She read a few (okay a lot, she works at a library) of books about dyeing and yarn and how the two work together. Alice joined Ravelry groups and marveled at everyone else's perfect skeins. She started stalking hand-dyers on Instagram and Etsy. And then slowly she started getting more predictable results. More repeatable colorways. And it turns out she loved playing with color as much as she loved playing with yarn. And that's how Backyard Fiberworks began. Check out more of her yarn at www.backyardfiberworks.com
Zucker, Gale: - Gale Zucker is an award-winning commercial & editorial photographer. She also happens to be a lifelong knitter and maker. Gale mashes these passions to create lifestyle fashion photography in the knitwear and handmade world. Gale brings her love of the storytelling style of photography, honed as a contributor to The New York Times and national magazines, to shoot narrative imagery of garments and designs. Her clients include yarn companies, book publishers, designers, magazines, and ready-to-wear clothing manufacturers and shops. Gale is the co-author/photographer of the books Drop Dead Easy Knits, Craft Activism, and Shear Spirit. She also teaches workshops on photography for social media, and marketing, for indie businesses and makers. Gale can found be online at gzucker.com and at She Shoots Sheep Shots (ezisus.blogspot.com), her long running blog. In real life, she can be found with her family in coastal Connecticut.
