You Ought to Knit in Pictures

I've always been fascinated by intarsia knitting, the act of making a picture out of a couple of different colors of yarn. It's a lot of fun to do, but I'm not a big fan of traditional intarsia patterns of flowers, snowflakes and such (argyle I like, though).

For that reason I really enjoyed Laura Birek's Picture Perfect Knits. Not only does it provide a good overview of how and why to knit intarisa, it also offers 10 full patterns and a ton of knitting charts for intarsia patterns that you can use on your own projects, from sweaters to bags to armwarmers.

The patterns show the true range of intarsia knitting, from scarves to sweaters and bags to vests, with motifs ranging from argyle to skulls, Mom tattoos and Che Guevara. The stand-alone charts offer everything from deer, birds, leaves ad fruit to flaming hearts, a water tower and a robot. You're sure to find something here that you want to knit (for me its the argyle vest, and maybe something with that robot on it) and a pattern or two that will bring a smile to your face.