Next month will mark the first birthday of Sojourn: A Knit Lace Collection by Knit Picks (as well as of my Fenestra Shawl), so a review seemed in order for this week’s post. ‘Ware lace!
The collection contains 14 lace shawl patterns of varying shapes and difficulty levels; 6 triangles, 2 crescents, 4 rectangles, and 2 circles (one of which has a half-circle option). 6 of the 14 use fingering weight yarn, while the rest are knit in laceweight.
The theme of this collection is traditional and vintage lace, but reimagined; most of the pieces are constructed in a conventional fashion and in well-known shapes. The ubiquitous triangle shawl with a center spine, worked either top-down or bottom-up, is well represented here. Allison LoCicero’s Finella Shawl, my personal favorite, is shown above. A number of beloved lace motifs also make their appearance in modern shawl shapes, like the Estonian Water Lily pattern in Susanna IC’s Lumme.
The art direction and photography in the book are superb. Some of the shawls are airy and ethereal, while others are squishy and textural, and the photographs capture it all against the backdrop of a vibrant greenhouse interior. (I can’t help but wonder if the shoot was a rather toasty experience for the model!) My photos of the book were taken on a dark, cloudy day, but in person the photos are luminous and inviting.
The layout and attention to detail are also excellent; several pages of this photo-dense book are devoted to full pictures, both detail shots and ‘in-action’ examples of the shawls being worn. The model is dressed in a variety of contemporary outfits, showing how lace can fit into a modern wardrobe.
Sharp eyes may also have noticed the delicate lace-inspired graphics that form borders on a number of the pages; each border is subtly different but brings unity to a wildly diverse book.
As with all Knit Picks exclusive pattern collections, the paper quality is excellent, thick without being stiff, and the covers have a lovely matte finish. I do feel the need to be a bit precious with my copies, as something about them doesn’t seem to invite a rough-and-tumble workflow; but not because they can’t handle it.
It should be noted that this is a chart-heavy book—very few of the patterns include written directions for the lace, and those are the simpler designs. If you’re going to use this book, know how to read charts; if you’ve never worked from a chart before, it may be advisable to tackle one of the more straightforward pieces before diving into the giant lace masterpieces of the collection (like Lunulata, above).
I consider myself a lace geek and have a hefty collection of lace books, mostly from Interweave; but Sojourn: A Knit Lace Collection still has plenty to contribute to my bookshelf. It should also be an equally useful addition to a new lace knitter’s library, as it covers the gambit of projects from beginner to highly, highly advanced. A large shawl collection has become a summer tradition at Knit Picks over the past few years, and Sojourn has me looking forward to what this year may have to offer.
Print and digital copies of Sojourn: A Knit Lace Collection, as well as individual pattern downloads, are available from Knitpicks.com. All opinions expressed are my own.
