Projects
A Typeface for Knitters
Dear Ann,
You gotta see this. This will blow your mind.
It is the first type family inspired by and made for hand knitting, and it’s called Knit Grotesk. Feast your eyes upon it here.
Knit Grotesk is an actual, real-live typeface—that you can knit. I downloaded the free trial package, and Ann—it’s so beautiful. I want to drop everything and knit these crisp, clean slip-stitch letters, with their striking striped background. It has three weights! I can envision so many beautiful text-based knits using these letters: from dishcloths to baby blankets to sweaters with monograms and names and sentiments of all kinds. A chart to knit the alphabet blanket pictured in the gallery above is included in the trial package. Exciting update: The chart to knit the alphabet blanket is now available as a free PDF download on Ravelry.com here.
Who designed Knit Grotesk?
The designer of Knit Grotesk is Rüdiger Schlömer, the graphic designer and author of Typographic Knitting: From Pixel to Pattern (Princeton Architectural Press). Franklin Habit wrote about this ground-breaking book here. Since then, I have had a copy, and I peek into it on the regular to marvel at Schlömer’s knitterly inventiveness.
How to knit it?
You can sort of see how Knit Grotesk works, as knitting, just by looking at it. I’d love to see all the letters charted out as knitting patterns, though, since my mind is so used to that stitch-by-stitch format. The letter A of the typeface that would become Knit Grotesk is charted out on the Knit Grotesk website, so that’s a start.
Uh-oh. I feel myself sliding down the slippery slope of a new passion. The letter A is big fun to knit.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll get out the graph paper and dive into the whole alphabet!
Exciting update: No graph paper required! Rüdiger Schlömer kindly has made the chart for all the letters available as a free PDF download on Ravelry.com here. Brb I am knitting a blanket, y’all!
Congrats to Rüdiger Schlömer on achieving this momentous first in two worlds: knitting and typography. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Love,
Kay
Can’t wait to knit an A on my 5 year old granddaughter’s soon to be knit sweater!
Well, THAT is just amazing and cool!
This looks really interesting! Can anyone answer a technical question? The heavier set letters e.g. the E and T, have long runs of slipped stitches , which you don’t normally do in mosaic knitting. Is there any advice on how to deal with the floats? I’ve looked in the free pattern but there’s no mention of floats. Thanks
Mind blown!
Amazing.
No more scouring cross stitch alphabets, no more duplicate stitch or intarsia for personalizations. Ingenious!
Where do we find the free trial? That is an amazing image of the blanket. I am an A!
It’s at that first link in the article.
Reminds me of Shadow Knitting.
In Typeknitting he has a field day with shadow knitting, the letter forms are super cool.
Wow and wow! This book tickles my love of typography! Many decades ago, I studied typographic design at the London College of Printing. How exciting that I can now add this new “typeface” to my knitting!
So interesting and amazing! Thanks for this introduction Kay.
Blown mind, rattled cage.
I love the way there is always something new in knitting! And in your daily posts. Looking forward to adding words to my knitting!
As someone who has FOUR Christmas stockings to knit this summer and is already stressing about how to chart out the names for the tops, I can only say THANK YOU!
Knit Grotesk might require a very large stocking to do names instead of just initials, but the book Typeknitting has several other alphabets to knit, including one that is suitable for stockings or for “signing” a handknit sweater.
Brilliant. A whole new set of Christmas stockings coming right up.
Okay spectacular! Thanks for this one, infinity.
Made me think about the sweater in MDK book 2 ( I think, not the first) where Ann’s sister knit in quotes. Shelf diving expedition!
The Margaret Cardigan!
I’m thinking a skirt border with a message……..
Wow. This is marvelous, thank you!!
This will be so helpful on the next Christmas stocking. Wish I had had it for the first. Thanks for this wonderful post!
I can’t seem to download zip files.
Kay, you have just saved me so much trouble!! Thank you, thank you! I can’t say it enough. This is amazing!
love it!
How very cool!!! I have his book, which is so interesting and helpful. So glad you made sure I didn’t miss thjs!
I saved that book review and then it slipped my mind. Must try this!
Oh What Fun!!!
Oh my gosh! This is so cool. Already downloaded my trial package.
Constantly amazed at what information your daily emails contain. This is brilliant!
Not quite the same, but two women published a book about 10 years ago called “Knitted Letters.” (Rather than design a new fonts for knitting, they adapted existing fonts to be knit.) Might be of interest to typography enthusiasts!
A novel idea with an unfortunate name…why “Grotesk” when so many other possibilities come to mind?
I wondered about this too. Grotesk or Grotesque is typographical terminology.
If you look at the typefaces available on your computer, you’ll find Brandon Grotesque and other grotesque fonts. Back in the 1800s printers started using typefaces that did not have serifs (little extra flourishes or marks on the letters, as seen in typefaces such as Times New Roman). These new forms were considered a bit primitive or crude but they became widely used in the 20th century (e.g., Bauhaus and other modern movements in publishing and design).
So by calling it Knit Grotesk the designer is referencing the family of typefaces to which it belongs.
Interesting! Thanks for the education.
I am aware of the Grotesque fonts, but I stand by my initial reaction based on a connotation of repulsion. Who needs knitting to be considered undesirable? Why not Knit Print? That was at least the first title that came to my mind.
OK, got it.
The designer of this:
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ticker-tape-2
was standing in front of me on a line at Rhinebeck one year (2012?) So cool. Still want to knit a scarf that says ‘Solvitur Ambulando’.
I love that! It is solved by walking!
I got the book when it first came out based on Franklin’s recommendation and it is fascinating. I recommend it to whether you plan to knit letters or not – it is an interesting read either way.
I love his book. And I’m an old-time Type Rat so this is exciting!
The big example A hurts my eyes and the A on the two swatches is barely visible.
Awesome!
How very cool! I’m packing for a move, so any knitting has to be finishing, not starting. But this is definitely on my List Of Things To Do when I’m in my new place!
Thanks for spreading the message! Meanwhile some beautiful blankets have been posted made: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knit-grotesk-abc-blanket