Inspiration
Shift Your Blanket Perspective
Margaret Holzmann’s The New Color Work is a fresh take on both blanket making and colorwork. Timeless heirloom blankets feel modern, organic, inspired, and new in Holzmann’s hands.
By drawing inspiration from things like DNA helixes, abstract art, quilting iconography and techniques, even woven fabrics, Holzmann enables adventurous knitters to create blankets that feel interesting to them.
Chromatic
There’s great movement in all of these designs. Plus they all draw on unusual knitting techniques. Each blanket gives you a number of methods that you can use to create the end design. There is not one way to work up any of these blankets.
Wonky Walking
Sometimes blanket knitting can be repetitive—and boring. However, these blankets are constructed in ways that minimize or avoid repetition and create space to feel adventurous. You feel like you’re crafting something unique—and you absolutely are!
The varying construction techniques show Holzmann’s wide range of knowledge when it comes to construction.
Felicity
Personally, I liked (and became obsessed with) over half of the designs in this book.
The Sanguine and Sheaves designs are most appealing to me, as they feel the closest to woven blankets. I’d be very curious to see if someone uses some of these designs less as a recipe book for blankets and more of a stitch dictionary, considering the ways to construct various panels of fabric.
The Pinwheels and the Pisces designs both lend themselves to very interesting garments. I found that the Wonky Walking design reminded me of a Gee’s Bend take on log cabin, with Plaza having a phenomenal log cabin inspiration, as well.
Refraction is a very interesting piece that is slightly repetitive. It is in that repetition that I think it is most beautiful. The congruency of the shapes produces a wonderful blanket for those of us who can accurately measure how much yarn they need in advance of casting on a project. I would not recommend this blanket as a stash buster, but you know your stash better than I do.
Refraction (and Holzmann)
The colorwork skills breakdown in the back of Holzmann’s book is comprehensive, explaining the different situations in which you would use stranded colorwork versus intarsia. She even explains a situation when it might be difficult to choose a technique. I wonder who’s adventurous enough to practice their ladderback jacquard with these motifs?
Some of these designs could be fun stash busters—and might include light sewing, depending on the different techniques that you use to build your blanket. There’s even information about how to make a knitted blanket sturdier by stitching some fabric to the back, as you would a quilt.
Many of these designs make your knitting portable, so take it on the road with you! While the patterns are highly technical, you will create some beautiful art, if you have the tenacity. Excuse me, while I cast something on myself.
Join the MDK Society 2026 now and you’ll have a lot to look forward to. Early birds join for $99 through Dec. 31—and charter members renew at only $89. (Use that member coupon code!)
Ooh, this looks fascinating! It may be added to my birthday list in March. Too many big WIPs right now.
I just love Margaret ‘s creativity!
Fascinating!
Oh, geez! The MDK blanket obsession continues and heightens. At first blush I was going to dismiss this out of hand assuming it was “beyond my ken” (nod to “Sound of Music”), but then I read the article which spoke of varying construction techniques and portability. The “toe dipping” is perilously close!
Oh wow! I love these designs. I don’t do a lot of colorwork but my goodness, I’m inspired! Thank you 🙂
I’ve never made a blanket in my life, but these designs are incredible and just reading about the various construction techniques and color work is enough for me to get the book and maybe even tackle one.
love these. I love the creativity and inspiring to consider for myself. I’m learning about the value of creativity and what it takes to create and not copy.
Nia,
Thanks for sharing. What a wonderful book! The inspiration here is wonderful and I will have to find this. I have lots of odds and ends that I think will fit wonderfully in any one of the designs pictured in your article.
Wow, wow, wow.
The designer is an engineer and it shows! One of my best friends is an engineer and their minds work in fascinating ways. It is as though the world is made of legos and they see the patterns. I see a mind field and want to get the pieces back in the box.
These are amazing!!! Not sure if I should think knitting or go dig in my craft room for my big box of quilting things from my younger days…I’m inspired to do both…a matching set perhaps?!! I want the book to just browse all day!!! So glad there are minds that work like Margaret’s and Cecilia C’s!!!
Inspiring
Margaret Holzman must have been a serious quilter in her previous life… now reincarnated as a knitter she continues her craft of large and larger projects.
All very admirable and awe inspiring by their inventiveness and variety as well as the sheer size of her oeuvre and especially the patience.
No, I only started quilting lately by joining a group project during COVID lockdown. Many of my knitting designs are inspired by quilts though. When I look at geometric designs, such as quilts, the knitting construction for them sometimes pops into my head.
Definitely earlier a quilt creative. Marvelous reinterpretation.
WOW WOW WOW!
PS: just placed this on hold at my local library!
Wowza!! All inspiring in both concept & color. I love modular knitting so found myself zooming in on a few of the pictures to see if that was a technique. Thnx for another inspiring article.
Wowza!!! Thanks for sharing. Very inspiring designs and color ways. Quilty in a modern way.
They look like quilts!
As a quilter and a knitter, this looks like a book I need to get.
Amazing colors and geometric shapes! I’m curious, are all the blankets garter stitch?
I have made one of her blankets. Yes, they are highly technical, but also fun. I made extra panels, and made some scarves that year for Christmas gifts. Worth the effort. She is a genius!
OMG! Another rabbit hole I am eager to fall into. Thanks so much for sharing this beauty and inspiration.
Nia, thank you for bringing this amazing book to our attention!
What they said…and, my sworn preference is for the least amount of assembly as I can get away with. Leads to new approaches in the “how to” category. And, have stash, will blanket. Wheeeee!
I think I may have found a winter project! Thanks for this.
These blankets are amazing!
I think I just found the perfect gift for ME !!! I love the idea of integrating a quilting design with knitting. What a fabulous way to use my stash for such a creative and beautiful gift.
I have been knitting for more than 60 years. I have knit 3 blankets to make a dent in my yarn stash. The first was 20 years ago using up Icelandic wool in a blanket that went to college with my daughter. The second was a story blanket for my granddaughter. And the third was a queen-bed sized memory blanket knit in one piece for my husband as he was succumbing to dementia. This one has more than 300,000 stitches and won Best in Show in the FL State Fair last year. I love cables and lace knitting, but most of all knitting in colors. My blankets give me the chance to combine all of these – I have never made a blanket using a single overall pattern, and the photos above are certainly striking.
Interesting work and looks like fun
Dazzling array of blankets!! Thank you, Nia, for bringing this to my attention. I love designs that have science based themes…Soothes the inner nerd!!
Nia!!! This is amazing! You know I have to try this. I do have a wee bit of stash. How can you be so far away and still get me in so much knitting trouble?