Rosemary Drysdale’s New Seed Stitch Book Is a Knitting Stitch Dictionary, Pattern Book and Technique Book, All in One
Seed stitch is one of the easiest and most beginner-friendly of all knitting stitch patterns. Since knitting pattern designers often relegate it to the task of creating ultra-simple beginner-level knitting projects, it’s possible you’ve never realized that the humble seed stitch offers a broad range of artistic possibilities. If, up until now, you’ve missed seeing the seed stitch’s vast creative potential, there’s a brand new knitting book you’re going to want to add to your library: It’s called Seed Stitch: Beyond Knit 1, Purl 1, by Rosemary Drysdale, published by Sixth&Spring Books. If you would be interested in learning dozens of new and interesting ways to utilize the seed stitch to knit eye-catching colorwork patterns, wearable clothing, stylish accessories and practical home decor items, Seed Stitch will entertain, educate and enlighten you while showing you some of the amazing possibilities you’ve overlooked until now.
What You Need to Know About This Exciting New Knitting Book:
Author: Rosemary Drysdale
Publisher: Sixth&Spring Books
Copyright Date: 2017
ISBN 13: 978-1-942021-64-3
ISBN 10: 194202164X
Book Format:
This book is available in an innovative flexibound format, which gives you the look and feel of a high-quality trade paperback binding; however, this type of binding also offers some major advantages over an ordinary paperback binding. One of the main advantages is that it is easy to get the book to open flat and stay open — which is HUGELY important when you are trying to swatch or knit a project from this sort of reference book.
So far, I am extremely pleased with the flexibound format, and am hoping it catches on with craft book publishers.
Other book lovers have told me that flexibound books tend to be sturdier than ordinary paperbacks; this is my first experience with owning a flexibound book, so I have yet to confirm this observation through personal experience.
Number of Pages: 144
Skill Level: This book is accessible to knitters of all skill levels; I would recommend it to anyone who knits, starting with the first day you pick up a pair of knitting needles. I think you’ll learn interesting things from this book even if you’ve been knitting for 30+ years (at least, I did!)
The team at Sixth&Spring has assigned a knitting skill level of “easy” to the vast majority of the patterns in this book.
The 31 Seed Stitch Knitting Project Ideas and Patterns Included in This Book:
Here’s a quick rundown of the projects you’ll find in this book:
- 1 women’s poncho pattern
- 3 blanket patterns; 1 is a throw-sized blanket and 2 are crib-sized baby blankets
- 5 cowl patterns
- 4 traditional scarf patterns
- 5 hat patterns: 2 adult-sized hats and 3 baby hats
- 1 pair of fingerless gloves
- 6 pillows
- 2 tote bags
- 4 sweater patterns: 2 women’s sweaters and 2 baby cardigan sweaters — one for baby girls and one for baby boys.
That’s a total of 31 fantastic project ideas! Let’s take a closer look at some of the knitting patterns included in the book:
The ZigZag Poncho Knitting Pattern
This graceful turtleneck poncho is an easy knitting project. The knitting stays interesting because of all the texture incorporated into the piece; the moss stitch background is interrupted a couple of times by bands of undulating chevrons that stand out from a contrasting bed of stockinette stitch.
Chunky Throw Knitting Pattern
I’m so excited about this gorgeous throw! Doesn’t it just look squishy-yummy-GORGEOUS!?
If I had to choose a favorite project from this book, I’d have a REALLY hard time, because I think so many of the projects in the book are pretty amazing; but out of all the projects in Seed Stitch, this is definitely one of my favorites, and it is also the project I’m likeliest to knit. I’m thinking of making one of these for my niece and perhaps even a second one for myself.
As far as handknitted blankets go, this one looks like it would be a reasonably quick project. The suggested yarn for this pattern is ig Montana by Tahki Yarns, which is an eco-friendly wool in a super bulky weight. I’ve been eyeing this yarn for quite some time now and am interested in giving it a try.
Diamond Check Hat Knitting Pattern
This knitted hat just oozes sophistication, don’t you think? I think the cute furry pompom is the perfect finishing touch — but if you want to make a guy-friendly hat, you could leave it off to make the design look more masculine.
Slouchy Hat Knitting Pattern in Seed Stitch
This hat is ever-so-slightly slouchy, giving it a relaxed, laid-back look that’s ideal for wearing out and about with your casual clothing and athleisure styles.
Cropped Pullover Knitting Pattern
More Knitting Projects Included in This Book:
- Moss stitch cowl
- Striped wristers
- Zigzag pillow
- Striped long cowl
- Two-way striped bread
- Striped cowl
- Checkerboard cowl
- V-neck short-sleeved pullover
- Graphic pillow trio
- Windowpane and diamonds pillows
- Open squares cowl
- Scarf quartet
- Slip stitch bag
- Baby’s crib blanket
- Eyelet baby blanket
- Trio of baby hats
- Girl’s and boy’s baby cardis
The Best Things About This Book
There are bunches of reasons I’m enthusiastically recommending this book to other crafters:
Attractive and Appealing Projects — The projects presented in the book are useful, practical and aesthetically pleasing. The clothing and accessories are all stylish enough to be wearable now, yet classic enough that they’re likely to remain fashionable several years into the future. They would all be easy to integrate into the average woman’s wardrobe; and many of the pieces are unisex designs that could also be integrated into a guy’s wardrobe assuming you take care in choosing guy-friendly colors and fibers to knit with.
An Outstanding Library of Usable, Versatile Seed Stitch Patterns — Considering the stitch patterns are all variations on the seed stitch, there’s a spectacular diversity of different looks included — all of which are still on-trend for 2023. There’s a collection of interesting and highly wearable two-color patterns including trendy chevrons, checks, diamonds, grids, triangles and stripe patterns. There are some fantastic slip stitch patterns that are striking to look at yet simple to understand and knit.
There are lovely solid-colored stitches that are intriguing to knit because of the contrasting textures. Some of the stitches feature combinations of cables and seed stitch. There are a couple of lovely lace chevron stitches, and some intriguing diagonal stitches. To my eyes, there isn’t a single dud in the group; they’re all useful, and I can envision multiple uses for just about all of them.
It’s a Useful Book for Knitters of All Skill Levels — I think the absolute best thing about this book is that even inexperienced knitters can use this information to knit amazingly cool projects.
The Book Includes Bunches of Helpful Tips and Hints to Fast-Track Your Understanding of the Concepts Presented. — The author, Rosemary, has included bunches of interesting details and insights that add up to an excellent reader experience when working with this book. For example, she has provided generous sized charts to work from, with one repeat of the pattern clearly marked on each chart. She has also noted which stitch patterns are reversible, which could potentially save you time in eliminating inappropriate stitch patterns for projects like scarves and shawls that need to look nice when viewed from either side of the work.
Logical, User-Friendly Book Format — The format of this book is clear, straightforward and logical. There’s a helpful visual index in the front of the book showing you all the projects at a glance. Then it leads into a swatch gallery showing you swatches and instructions for 60 magnificent variations on the seed stitch. The book even includes designer’s graph paper you can use for charting out your own seed stitch and moss stitch patterns (I recommend photocopying this so you can re-use it multiple times). The book concludes with a helpful index plus acknowledgements and information about the author.
Other Observations About This Book
I haven’t come across any serious shortcomings in this book to warn you about. There are a couple of little things about various projects that aren’t to my taste; for example, I wouldn’t knit the cropped pullover because I’m aware that it wouldn’t be flattering to my figure. But this is totally irrelevant to you, so it probably wasn’t even worth mentioning. Really, there isn’t much of anything worth criticizing here. This book is definitely worth your consideration.
Conclusion
I recommend Seed Stitch Knitting to knitters of all skill levels. I think it is a lovely, worthwhile book that knitters will be thrilled to own and use.
Where to Buy This Book:
A Knit Design Reference That Complements Seed Stitch: Beyond Knit 1, Purl 1 by Rosemary Drysdale
More Knitting Stitch Dictionaries
- Keiko Okamoto’s Japanese Knitting Stitches: A Stitch Dictionary With 150 Amazing Patterns — This is a generalist knitting stitch dictionary that covers a lot of ground, giving you stitch patterns that utilize some little-known techniques in addition to the most popular ones like lace knitting and cable knitting.
- The Alterknit Stitch Dictionary — If you’re interested in incorporating stranded colorwork designs into your knitting, the Alterknit Stitch Dictionary is a nice complement to the Seed Stitch book. There’s no overlapping material in the two titles that I’m aware of, so your knitting library will benefit from the addition of both books.
- Dimensional Tuck Knitting — This book gives you the scoop on how to do an intriguing three-dimensional knitting technique that sort of resembles cables, but is its own unique thing. This is one of my all-time favorite knitting books.
- Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible — This is an exceptional book filled with truly magnificent cable and lace knitting patterns, suitable for experienced knitters.
- The Cable Knitter’s Guide — If you want to make traditional knitted cables using cable needles, the Cable Knitter’s Guide is an excellent reference to add to your knitting library. It is a combination of stitch dictionary, technique book and pattern book.
Learn More About Knitting
- Click here to check out our beginner’s guide to knitting needles.
- Click here to find our picks for the best knitting books of 2023 and beyond.
Posted By: Amy Solovay
This page was last updated on 8-19-2023.