Quilt-Inspired Knitting

As the granny square blanket I crocheted for Granddaughter F caused havoc in my right wrist, I waffled between weaving or knitting an afghan for Grandson O.  I settled on knitting and started looking for ideas.  I found them in Coburg, Oregon!

Yesterday my friend Joni (a quilter), invited me along to attend the annual Coburg Quilt Show.  The quilts were gorgeous and inspiring to a  knitter looking for afghan ideas!  Take a peek at some of the beauties (in no particular order) on display!

          

Knitters and crocheters can be inspired by the art of quilters.

This lovely mitered square blanket on the left was knit by Sue Anne Kendall.  (For those new to making mitered squares, check out her blog, Suna Knits, where she shares her method.)  Given a border, it would resemble this quilt Joni and I saw at the quilt show, pictured at the right.

Quilters have long used the log cabin design in many delightful ways, utilizing from two to eight colors. Here’s the schematic shared by Staci Perry on Ravelry; it’s free.  (Source).  Just Trusting Myself used several  colors in this large version on the right.  Purl Bee made log cabin washcloths.   PDXKnitterati knit a three-colored baby blanket from this quilt pattern.

Then there’s the rail fence pattern, as beautifully captured in this quilt pictured at the right.  It was another lovely piece that Joni and I saw at the Coburg Quilt Show.  Red Heart yarns has a free rail fence crochet pattern as does Ravelry by C.L. Halvorson.

Another basic but beautiful geometric design quilt pattern is courthouse steps.  Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne wrote a blanket pattern for in  Mason-Dixon Knitting.  Here’s my quick sketch of a courthouse step quilt pattern with 13 modular pieces (1 square and 12 rectangles).   Knitters and crocheters can borrow from quilters and, with their imagination let loose, create some amazing designs based on the courthouse step pattern.  (See here for more details.)

Looking like quilt influenced is Square Deal from Wooly Thoughts.  Wooly Thoughts has some amazing afghans to knit and crochet, and provide several patterns free that can be put together to emulate quilting patterns!

Of course, not all quilt patterns rely on 90 degree angles.  Yet the adventurous knitters can again borrow from their quilting siblings.  Compare the double wedding ring pattern in the quilt pictured to the right (on display  at the Coburg Quilt Show) to the picture at the left  from Interweave Knits Summer 2002.  (I saved that pattern for years thinking I’d knit it for my daughter and her husband.  I never have.)  It’s also available at Interweave Knits.

For knitting and crocheting that create the illusion of curves long used by quilters, take a peek at the modular designs – both knit and crochet – of Wooly Thoughts.  (See also its Ravelry page.)  About Turn (left) consists of squares, each of which is divided into two different colored triangles.  The shaping in Curve of Pursuit (right) is done by short rows.  Each uses only garter stitch.

With a pencil, ruler and eraser, you can sketch out your own modular design.  Colored pencils are always nice to see how you might order your color scheme.  Look how Christiane Burkhard arranged simple rectangles of varying sizes and a beautiful array of colors – a great way to use up yarn left from other projects!

Have you translated quilting designs into your knit or crochet work?