For years I’ve thought, someday I want to design something that combines slip-stitch colorwork and lace. I’ve done tons of designs with slipped-stitch colorwork, also called mosaic knitting, although I sometimes see mosaic used as something slightly different than most of my slip-stitch designs so I don’t usually use that term, but I’m not really sure what the rules are… anyway! I’ve done a few designs with lace too, and I kind of combined colorwork with lace in Adventure Knitting 2; the only time I’ve really used slip-stitch colorwork and lace (ish) together is Transversal, which does it pretty simply. SO, when I heard Barbara Benson had a book coming out that’s entirely exactly that, I thought it would be something you (my followers) would be totally into! It’s right up my designer alley, but since I’m kinda phasing out from designing this year, I might never actually design something like this, so now someday I can knit something for fun instead, from this book!

Mosaic & Lace Knits is a collection of 20 shawls, cowls, scarves, hats, and other accessories, plus an instructional section with the basics of knitting slip stitches, how to read the charts, how to work mosaic in the round, and tips and tricks. It’s full of big, beautiful color photos of all the projects and closeups of stitch patterns.

The difficulty level of the patterns varies; there are some simpler patterns in which the mosaic and lace are worked separately, and then you can progress to more complex designs with mosaic and lace worked together.

A few of my favorite designs are: Your Princess is in Another Castle (so squishy!)…

The Pinwheel Market Bag…

The Punctatus Mitts…

And the Rhipis shawl. So cool how the same motif is kind of imitated in mosaic and in lace, for very different but cohesive looks.

I also love Fractured Helix, the cover shawl.

The publisher was so generous to send me a review copy, and also offer a giveaway to a lucky reader! If you want to win a copy of Mosaic & Lace Knits for yourself, leave a comment here sharing either which project from the book you’re most excited to knit, or what two yarn colors you’d like to pair up in a mosaic lace project. I’ll choose a winner at random a week from today — make sure you receive comment replies in your inbox, or check back in to see if you won!