You know how it is when you buy a knitting book. You're attracted to a project or two the first time you look at it. Maybe as you flip through it a few more times, you see a couple more projects you'd like to try. Rarely, if ever, do you like every single project in the book.
That's why it was so shocking when I opened Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding. I wanted to make everything right away!
Tons of Treats for Babies and Moms
This excellent, beautiful book offers 21 patterns for mothers and their children, ranging from sweaters and blankets to hats and booties.
There are only six pages of knitting instructions in the back of this book, so it's not for absolute beginners, but most knitters with some experience could make many of these projects.
British knitwear designer Louisa Harding has outdone herself with these amazing designs that will make any knitter wish she knew an expecting mom or newborn baby.
Rarely do you see such careful attention paid to moms-to-be in a knitting book, but this book delivers a "baby bump" expanding sweater for pregnancy, two nursing sweaters and a beautiful nursing shawl that a knitter without a new-mom pal could certainly make for some other special occasion.
Good for Families and the Planet
The subtitle of this book is Beautiful Designs Using Organic Yarns. We already covered the beautiful designs part, but we haven't touched on the amazing yarn used in these projects.
Harding says in the introduction to the book that she learned about the variety of organic yarns that are available on a visit to the United States, and it inspired her to work on a book using only organic wools and cottons.
The results are amazing: beautiful fabrics that look natural and handmade while at the same time looking elegant and artful.
While it would certainly be possible to make these projects with non-organic (or, gasp, even non-natural) yarn, using the intended yarns will make the projects all the more stunning.
The Gift of Knitting
The book encourages readers to take up needles to make gifts for new babies not your own, and that's certainly a wonderful reason both to learn knitting and to continue to practice the craft.
There's something incredibly hopeful about making something with your own hands and giving it to a new child or a new family.
I happen to be of a certain age where there are new babies all around me and I can't wait to shower some of the new moms I know with the gifts from this book. Who knows, maybe someday I'll even be able to make some of these treasures for myself.
