Steampunk knitting gets a boost

Steampunk as a movement has always embraced the DIY aesthetic. Knitting is a natural match for steampunk, since it allows you to not only customize your item to your exact specifications, it also adds that historical touch. Several steampunk-ish knitting patterns have become popular in recent years (the designs of Stephen West spring to mind). But for the first time, a group of Seattle knitters have banded together to publish a book of patterns designed specifically for steampunk.

The Ladies of Mischief is a Seattle-area knitting group dedicated to crafting steampunk and Victorian-era knitted items. Their new book, Needles and Artifice, is now available through Cooperative Press. The Seattle Times did a wonderful write-up on the group and the book, which you can read here. (And not once does the article use the phrase "it's not your grandma's knitting" or mention grannies even once. A break with reporting tradition for which reporter Katya Yefimova is to be commended.)

Needles and Artifice is part adventure novel, part pattern book. It features local businesses, including jewelry from local artisans and yarn from independent dyers.

The patterns are as beautiful as they are well-crafted, with an abundance of the kind of small details that can really make an outfit. The Deviation Capelet is reinforced with bamboo and ribbon to give it a structural quality; the Warm & Tingley Mitts feature ribbing on the palm to help keep the fit snug and flexible.

As an aside, it's refreshing to come across a pattern book with challenging patterns. It seems like the knitting pattern industry spends 98 percent of its effort trying to reach the lowest common denominator: The beginning knitter. The patterns in Needles & Artifice are much more advanced than the average fare, but judging by the gorgeous pictures, they are worth the effort. And like Kay and Ann say, "No pattern is too ambitious if you crave the result enough!"

Image copyright The Ladies of Mischief/Needles & Artifice