About the Blanket

We've had a few blanket knit-alongs in Knit Now over the years, but this time we wanted to shake it up a bit and do something new. We reached out to some of our favourite designers and asked them to each contribute a stitch pattern from one of their existing designs. All these stitches have been brought together by Maddie Harvey to create a brand-new pattern, the Close Knit Blanket. Over the next 10 issues, you'll discover exciting designers, learn new techniques and create a beautiful blanket.

About the Yarn

The blanket is designed for West Yorkshire Spinners ColourLab DK, which is made in Yorkshire using British wool, meaning it has a low carbon footprint. The yarn is warm and durable, so we hope your finished blanket will keep you cosy for years to come. To make the Close Knit Blanket you will need six balls. We'll soon be launching a subscription offer which will include a yarn bundle to knit the blanket (UK only, due to postage restrictions). We only have a limited quantity of these, so make sure you're signed up to our mailing list to be the first to know when this offer is launched!

Join the KAL

The first part of the pattern will be published in Knit Now issue 117, which will be on sale 25th June.

Knit Now is sold in supermarkets and newsagents across the UK and in digital edition via PocketMags. Individual issues are sold through MoreMags (free UK postage right now) and the magazine is of course also available on subscription.

We'd love you to share your progress with us and the Knit Now community - make sure you tag knitnow in your posts and use the hashtag #CloseKnitKAL on Instagram when you share your photos.

Meet the Designers

Dawn Landix

Instagram: dawn.landix

Dawn is a knitwear designer creating patterns for pieces that fit seamlessly into your existing wardrobe and are equal parts cosy and chic. She focuses on building a handmade, slow wardrobe and overall being more conscious and present in everything she does and makes.

Francoise Danoy

Instagram: arohaknits

At Aroha Knits, as a knitwear designer and coach, Frenchie inspires and empowers fibre artists to transform their yarn so they can manifest Aroha (Te Reo Maori for love), one stitch at a time. Frenchie is passionate about creating meaningful and fulfilling work, shaking up the industry and fibre community, and serving as a catalyst for transformative impact.

Hunter Hammersen

Instagram: hunterhammersen

Hunter is a knitwear designer who focusses on smaller knits like socks, shawls and little fripperies. She self-publishes her own books under the Pantsville Press imprint and has an incredible talent for creating innovative designs that are pleasing to knit. She says she's not quite sure how she got to be so lucky to do this for a living, but she's having great fun!

Bristol Ivy

Instagram: bristolivy

Bristol Ivy is a knitting designer and teacher from Portland, Maine. Her design work focuses on the intersection between innovative technique and classic tailoring, and her classes focus on creativity, technique and understanding the nuts and bolts of knitting.

Jeanette Sloan

Instagram: jeanettesloan

Jeanette is a designer whose creative process often begins with that search for an intriguing stitch that will attract your creative juices or a decorative or constructive detail that will give the project a stylish, contemporary edge. Her beautiful designs have featured in magazines, books and online and she also uses her platform to promote diversity in the crafting industry.

Noriko Ho

Instagram: norichanknits

Noriko has been knitting since 2005, spinning since 2008 and crocheting since 2011! She began creating her own things almost from the get-go, and took a number of stabs at designing in the past. She finally decided to get more serious about it, as her friends kept telling her that she needed to give them the patterns to her creations. Once she started, she found that she couldn't stop. She now has new ideas daily; sometimes it's hard to keep up!

Amy van de Laar

Instagram: baroquepurls

Amy is a knitting designer and singer living in Melbourne, Australia. Her accessory designs spring from a love of texture and colour, and take inspiration from art and nature.

She loves creating new stitch patterns and finding out what they want to be! Her goal is to create beautiful patterns that are easy to follow and a joy to knit. She wants to help you make the most of your precious yarn, and help you make your projects the best they can be by providing simple clear patterns and helpful tips.

Tina Tse

Instagram: tina.say.knits

Tina designs and manages a team that works on industrial knitting machines by day and creates hand-knitting pattern designs by night. She started her career in the fashion industry as a knitwear specialist, working with designers to execute their knit fabric or garment ideas. Now, she works in the sporting goods industry, developing technical textiles for non-apparel applications. Outside of knitting, Tina is passionate about sharing her experiences as an Asian American and is an advocate for proper representation of Asian identity.

Ysolda Teague

Instagram: ysolda

Ysolda is a designer, sizing and fitting enthusiast who is always full of creative ideas. She began creating her own knitting designs when she was at university and in recent years has grown her business and expanded into selling yarn, books and other inspiring treats through her website. She lives in Scotland with her wife, their child and two mischievous cats.

Melanie Berg

Instagram: mairlynd

For Melanie, knitwear design is a passion  a matter of the heart  with which she makes herself and many others happy at the same time. She loves designing shawls, sometimes they are colourful, sometimes simple, sometimes elegant, sometimes gaudy, sometimes playful or sometimes real eye-catchers. Her instructions are easy to understand and she aims to create patterns that are as joyful to knit as they are to wear.

Maddie Harvey

Instagram: harveyknits

Bringing the whole blanket together is Knit Now favourite Maddie Harvey. She learned to knit as a child but then didn't pick up the needles again until she had children, nearly eight years ago. She loves the puzzle of designing: working out how to get a piece of knitting to look like that, how to get the stitches to make the shapes and the textures she wants, how to use the colours together so they sing. We couldn't think of anyone better to bring together all these designers.