Seeing the amazing ‘East London Knitters Say Balls to Fascism’ banner hanging in the window has got me thinking about text in knitting. That is anything typographical or text based; slogans, favourite quotes or simply just the alphabet have all been stitched into these designs. Some in a collective sign of solidarity like the banner or others just to express your own feelings. As it happens there are lots of texts in knitting so here is a little look at some I have found.
If you are local to the shop do pop by and check out the banner hanging in the window. Three Hackney based yarn shops: Fabrications, Knit with attitude and Wild & Woolly along with knitters from all around the world worked together to produce lettered squares that were sewn together to form the words: ‘East London Knitters Say Balls to Fascism, No Pasaran!’. All the squares were made to the same size and knitters chose to create their letter in any way they like. Or if they had a blank square they embellished them with signs of peace.
This has got me thinking about all sorts of projects incorporating letters. The knit stitch is almost like a pixel and if you reduce text down in that way you can knit them into your design or even duplicate stitch them over other knitted projects.
The Monogram Socks (link to Ravelry) by Summer Lee. These cute socks are worked cuff down and are finished with an afterthought heel for simple knitting. The pattern features 26 charts for each letter for the alphabet and these are worked in stranded colourwork along the entire length of the sock.
Knit Grotesk ABC-Blanket (link to designers website) by Rüdiger Schlömer. Graphic designer and knitter Rüdiger Schlömer created this ‘Typeknitting’ typeface and worked it into this specimen blanket. Using just slip stitches to create the letters, it even has numbers and different characters. Check out this designers other work which also features lots of typographic knits.
Ticker Tape (link to Ravelry) by Misa Erder. I really like this design. The alphabet here is charted vertically and the letters follow the length of the scarf. With a fully charted alphabet and punctuation it is designed so you can knit your favourite quote. Make it as long as you like and wrap it around and around. I particularly enjoyed going through the Ravelry listing of this one and checking out everyone’s quotes.
Poetry Mittens (link to Ravlery) by Veronica Patterson and Jane Fournier. These mittens are inspired by mittens from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that feature words forming a poem. Words wrap around the hands and continue on to the other. Knit from the cuffs to the fingers in stranded colourwork.
ASL ABCs intarsia chart (link to designers website) by Jamie Storer. This crochet blanket came up while I was searching for alphabet themed designs. It’s a fully charted depiction of the American Sign Language alphabet featuring the one handed system for spelling.
All Together Sweater (link to designers website) by Joji Locatelli. This jumper was created during the pandemic and features the world’s ‘all together’. Joji created this positive message at a time of unease and has given this pattern as a gift for free. Knit from the top down and finished with this bold colourwork chart.
Strawberry Garden Baby Blanket (link to Ravelry) by Jake Henzler. This blanket uses text in a minimal but personal way. Using a single letter amongst the dense colourwork design to add a personal initial to dedicate this blanket to the receiver.
Fightin’ Words (link to Ravelry) by Annie Watts. These fingerless mitts conjure up the action bubbles in superhero comic books. Bold and bright and knit from the cuff to the fingers in all over stranded colourwork.
First Words (link to Ravlery) by Lynne Sosnowski. This sweet idea for a baby jumper features a big intarsia speech bubble. Knit from the bottom up and finished with a button up neckline. The text is added at the end with back stitch for chain stitch, so have some fun with this one and choose your own message.
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