UPDATE: Part 1 (flat knitting) of the Mosaic Knitting walk thru is available here in .pdf format. Part 2 (in the round) will be up shortly.

The first mention of Mosaic knitting that I recall seeing was a vest on about.knitting.com. To be frank, it didn't do a thing for me. I didn't consider Mosaic knitting again until Kristi Porter's (of A Capella and Sonnet fame) article Slip in Some Color in the Summer 03 issue of Knitty. Suddenly I 'got it'. The Geometry! The Colors! The possibilities! I searched and searched via Google, let me tell you, pickings are slim out there for Mosaic patts so I decided to design my own.

In the pic, the Tibetan Maze wrap...googled for mazes, motifs of many genere, perused textiles of people near and far finding something that I liked that I could translate to a mosaic patt. Came across this Tibetan Maze rug and thought it would work well in knitted form. I dutyfuly filled in all the little squares on my graph paper and went to town. OOPS! I wasn't aware of Knitter's Graph Paper and ended up with a pattern which I'd envisioned square decidedly rectangular. My ambitious wrap has long been sequestered to No Man's WIP land. I just wasn't up to knitting another four feet of that luscious non wormy chenille at the time. It is now at UFO status awaiting a golden damask to be sewn to the back, I think it wants to be a pillow.


After getting several suprising requests for me to share the patterns for the little baskets I'd posted recently on my blog and noticing a few fellow Knitty Coffeeshop patrons mentioning wanting to learn more about Mosaic knitting I went ahead and wrote up the patterns. The patterns are free for you to download, use, revise etc. Above all I hope you find it is something of interest to you and you see the potential for Future Fab Projects. If you do knit up one of the patts or start branching out with your own thing and would like to share with others seeking inspiration by all means send them on in, I'll post them for all to enjoy.


General Observations.

Mosaic patterns generally knit up just as easily in the round as they do flat. You'll find patterns that utilize only stk. st. and others that throw a bit of seed or garter in to create added interest. With one simple repeat, there are so many possibilities. Use a varigated coupled with a complimentary or contrasting solid. An excellent way to use up odds and ends. I suggest trying to knit with similar weights or combining yarns until you have strands to work with that are similar to avoid puckering when starting out. Keep an even tension! When you slip more than two stitches in the pattern the pucker potential rises too. AND swatch it! The bowls actually were swatches I worked up while finding something I liked for the 'Cestino' pattern, not wanting to just make swatches I did bottom decreases and topped off the works with i-cord. Now they adorn the book case, I'm sure they will start filling with little things soon. All of the patterns are scalable. Heavier yarn, large needles, more pattern repeats etc. Obviously I have not included every type of mosaic stitch, but a few here to get you started.



Disclaimer: As I have stated before - The only thing that irritates me more than a pattern with an error in it is a person who bitches about patterns with errors in them then posts patterns with errors themselves. I have knit a second sample of the four basket patterns (2 of which are posted so far) to ensure accuracy before I post. If you do find an error please alert me asap and I'll write on the blackboard..er copy and paste 500 times "I'm a Putz!" and beg your forgiveness and of course plead lame excuses.