I had a very happy mail day last week, receiving my copy of the new pattern book I Knit Paris. The book features 10 patterns inspired by the city of Paris, by nine different French designers. Besides these patterns, the book includes an overview of all the knitty spots in the city, as well as interviews with all the designers and their connection to and favourite spots in the city.

I’m really excited by this books, as it actually is very insightful about spots to visit that I wasn’t aware of yet, and has information about all my favourite knitting stores bundled together. The pattern photography is stunning and feels properly Parisian, capturing both the knitting and the places that inspired it.

I think my absolute favourite pattern from the book is the Tuileries Pullover by Julie Knits in Paris. If I’d had to imagine a sweater that looked interesting to make, interesting to look at, but also interesting to wear basically every day, this sweater is the personification of those thoughts. I’m going to need this sweater in all of the colours.

I’m of course also head over heels (pun intended) in love with the sock design in this book. The Jardin à la Française socks by Tisserin Coquet feature fun colourwork inspired by shapes and symmetry that can be found in French gardens.

I also had an immediate cast on after receiving the book, which is the Running Up That Hill shawl by les Tricoteurs Volants. The pattern name refers to the hill leading up to Montmartre, which in general I would not recommend you to run up ;).  Knitting this shawl I can heartily recommend however.

All in all, I’m extremely happy with this book. If you’re looking for a beautiful pattern book that also happens to be a knitty Paris city guide, this is the book for you. You can have a look at all the patterns here.

As you might already know I’m a bit of a sock knitting addict, so I’m very excited to be reviewing the Fall 2014 version of Sockupied!

If you are not familiar with Sockupied, it is an interactive e-magazine, which besides patterns also has other interesting articles, like for example a feature on how to knit long-lasting socks or a piece on wool washes. So even for an experienced sock knitter, it is still a very interesting read.

The interactive format of Sockupied is really fun, you download the magazine as a program (for either windows or mac) and easily install it on your computer. You can hop through the different parts of the magazine in a more versatile way than a traditional pdf format would offer. Although a pdf might seem more easy access, there is no need to be intimidated by the application, because it is easy to figure out. It is also easy to print the patterns from the program, if you’re more of a paper kind of person. However I could also see the downside in having to install another program with every new edition of the e-mag, and I wonder if it wouldn’t be possible to make this format browser based or maybe to have one central program for multiple editions for example.

There are 6 featured patterns, by various designers and also varying degrees of difficulty, which can be found on Ravelry here. As you can see the patterns are really pretty. My favourites are the Time Traveler socks (pictured above), that got their name by being inspired by a vintage knitting pattern. And if you’re looking for a beautiful colourwork challenge, you will certainly like the True North socks, that come with some interesting construction techniques.

One small detail that I really appreciate is that even in the patterns there are some interactive features. You can get some extra information on the designer or materials needed (with links to the used yarn), or you can view different pictures of the socks. For each pattern there is also the option for a pdf download, which I greatly appreciate!

The retail price for Sockupied is $7,99 (which is around €6,00) is in my opinion already worth it for the sock patterns alone, but with the nice bonus of having an interesting magazine attached to it. All in all I really enjoyed reading through the different features, the patterns are gorgeous and made my sock knitters heart beat a little faster. And I actually learned a thing or two, so I can only heartily recommend Sockupied.