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I read about this book on another blogger's site (sorry I forgot which blogger!). It just arrived in the mail.
The Eclectic Sole by Janel Laidman. It's another great sock book. I think the cover sock is my favorite - but I'm sure to make several interesting socks from this book over the next few years. A girl can never have too many sock patterns.
Cynthia at Knitting Central just got in the perfect book. In fact, it's got my name on it. Well, not really, but the woman knitting on the front cover could be a double of mine!
How to Knit in the Woods by Shannon Okey of KnitGrrl fame. If you've been reading my blog since inception, you might remember this early scouting knitgear I made. Look how little Primogeniture was back then. He's going into high school this year and is already taller than me. Sigh.
And you know I always knit socks on our Boy Scout campouts. In fact, each night before I go to bed, I put on a fresh pair of handknit socks to ensure that my feet are comfy cozy for a good night's sleep. It's the best part of camping.
Do you have any other gadgets that you would knit for camping?
This past week Primogeniture and another Scout showed off their pet owner skills. They each spent several months learning about their pet, teaching new tricks and being responsible for their pets. In each case, the boys had dogs, so we got together one night this week to show the tricks the dogs had learned. David taught Nelly many great tricks. My favorite was teaching her to climb into a small laundry basket
Primogeniture taught Wilma some swell tricks too. She was all tuckered out after showing off her repertoire of fancy tricks.
The best take away from the evening was the pride and encouragement these young men felt about their dog ownership skills. Plus, I got a tip on this great book:
How to Talk to Your Dog by Jean Craighead George and illustrated by Sue Truesdell. We'll be teaching Wilma lots of new tricks from this book.
After my sock class with Charlene Schurch, I bought this much talked about book by Cat Bordhi
New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi. Cat is another ingenious designer. I'll have to attack this book after I've had a chance to catch up on my rest and relaxation. I'll probably need to take my gingko biloba and other brain cell building supplements before mastering these new pathways for sock knitters. Maybe that's what Cat meant in her title... New Neuro-Pathways for Sock Knitters.
Since we learned the EZ Shaped Arch in the Charlene Schurch workshop, I realized I should probably get out my EZ book collection and revisit the original instructions by EZ herself. I already own EZ's Knitter's Alamanac; Knitting Around; and Knitting Without Tears. I discovered I did not own EZ's Knitting Workshop. So I stopped back at my LYS and picked up a copy.
So now that I owned all the EZ books - I'd be sure to find the pattern, right? Wrong.
It's not really an EZ pattern. It's a Meg Swansen design called Two-Color Arch Shaped Stockings that was published in the Fall 2006 Vogue Knitting. You can find the errata and corrected pattern HERE. But no worries. Now I have a complete EZ library and I found the errata for the sock. I consider this a win-win proposition.
BTW - I don't own EZ's The Opinionated Knitter. I guess I should add that to my wish list. So many books, so little time!
I've been working on the Warm Up America 5x7 squares. I'm trying to get as many blankets sewn together. My problem is that I'm a perfectionist. I don't want the blankets to be completely haphazard. So I have decided to mix the myriad swatches with a few that carry a theme. That's what I am trying to achieve with this purple and red heart blanket.
I carried the heart theme throughout the blanket by making 6 heart red & purple swatches. I also made some textured hearts (hard to see here) but trust me that I also knit about 4 of these. Then I tried to tie the purple and red theme together by making some multi-colored red and purple striped swatches (5 swatches). I finally made 5 swatches with red, purple and lilac in a four-quadrant theme. I think these unifying pieces tie the entire blanket together quite nicely.
I decided that I needed more inspiration so I ordered this book - 200 Knitted Blocks by Jan Eaton
It's got quite a selection of beautiful blocks. I will try to work on using some of these samples to finish some of the rest of the Warm Up America blankets throughout the year. I find them to be enjoyable to knit, especially in the summer when I don't necessarily want to knit big heavy warm pieces.
I ordered a few books and they arrived today.
Vogue Knitting on the Go - Socks
Vogue Knitting on the Go - Socks Two
Inside the first book is the most adorable pattern for baby argyle socks which I'd like to try for future baby gifts to have on hand. It looks like a fun pattern that will knit up nicely (not to mention quickly) and will be a well-received gift for someone's little bundle of joy.
I'm heading home in a few weeks and am planning on teaching a knitting class at the Women & Children's Center at Jackson Recovery Center. In the meantime, I've sent some of the charity yarn that many of you have donated to me, along with many plastic knitting needles and crochet hooks. I also bought a few books.
Crocheting School is a marvelous complete course in crocheting. Cynthia at Knitting Central picked it out for me as one of her favorites. I'm hooked (pun intended). I'm going to have to go back and get a copy for myself.
Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick is a great book for kids and adults alike. Don't be fooled by its cover. It's got everything you need to know about knitting - whether you're 5 or 95 years old. Now I just want to find a good book that has basic knit and crochet afghans in it. That's the next reference book I'd like to leave with the ladies so they can make their own blankets. What are your favorites?
I neglected to share with you some of my recent knitting book gifts. I think they're all fantastic. I can hardly wait to try some of the things inside.
Knit, Knit, Knit - I think I mentioned from our big annual holiday party at the Four Seasons. The book in the cookbook stand is Kristen Knits. It's a great book and I hope to find something in here that I will actually knit. Most of the time I just look at patterns and set them aside. This time, I'd really like to make something from a pattern book or magazine that is part of my knitting reference stash. The cute little book on the right is Knitted Icons - a gift from BF. It's hilarious. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you peruse it cover-to-cover. You'll laugh when you see all the artistic minds of knitting fans of Pop Culture meet in one book. I might knit Elvis. Maybe Madonna. Mabye I'll knit BF (my own personal favorite Pop Culture icon).
While I'm decidicing which icon to knit, why don't you take your last shot at guessing how many stitches are in BF's sleeping socks. The contest ends tomorrow night at midnight so leave your comment here.
I'm a huge Jane Austen fan. I didn't come into this until a few years ago. In fact, I didn't get it for a long while. When I first read the book, the only thing I took away from the book was this thought "All they do is walk?!". Now I could watch my Jane Austen DVDs over and over and over again. I have both the Colin Firth BBC DVD and the Keira Knightly DVD. I like them both. They each have redeeming qualities. I've also recently purchased The Annotated Pride and Prejudice. But this morning I saw something on Deb's blog that I realized was missing in my life.
Go check it out here.
Did you check it out?
OK. If you did, 'fess up. Did you purchase one for yourself?
My Prayer Shawl knitting group at Assumption Parish has talked about knitting mittens for children in the area. I decided to buy some books on the subject. I went to Knitting Central yesterday and found Robin Hansen's Knit Mittens!
There are some wonderful patterns in here and I hope to make the best mittens ever to gift to some special recipients. I keep thinking about what Norma said - which I'll paraphrase to this - "When you knit something for charity, knit it as if you were making it for yourself or for your own child/grandchild. Think quality not quantity." I like that philosophy. It's similar to what I tell the boys when we clean up their old clothes and toys for charity. "Would you like to receive this broken toy?" or "Would you wear this shirt with a hole or stain in it?" This generally makes the boys sheepishly go back and pick good quality items that they simply aren't wearing or playing with. I think everyone deserves something beautiful and made especially for them. I also believe that all that positive energy can be passed on to the recipient through a lovely handmade item. I'm certain that this book will help all of us make handknit items to be cherished.
I forgot to show you my purchases from the Knitting Central annual sale. Oh. I didn't buy anything that was actually on sale. Why would I do that? I went in looking for a book for a gift and I found it. Vogue Knitting - the Ultimate Knitting Book is one of my favorite gifts to give to newbie knitters.
I also picked up The Crochet Stitch Bible because I need a primer on crocheting. This one seemed to be the best all around book to have in the reference library. I hope to take a basic crochet class with Danni at Knitting Central before the end of August so she can help me expertly finish assembling some Warm Up America blanket swatches that are hiding in my stash.
Finally I decided to look through some lace books - at your recommendations - and see if any shawl patterns had edges that I'd like to use for my huppah. I picked up Meg Swanson's A Gathering of Lace and immediately fell in love with many patterns.
I might actually be enticed to knit a full-fledged lace shawl for myself. Danni - you Lace Goddess from my LYS - I'll definitely need your help and encouragement!
The best treasure I found was Lace from the Attic - A Victorian Notebook on Knitted Lace Patterns. This one has hundreds of patterns for lace edges. It's exactly what I was looking for when I thought of adding handknit lace to the edges of my huppah. Now I just need to pick a pattern and knit a sample. That will have to be next week's project.
I saw this book at my LYS and laughed in spite of myself. Have you seen it?
I love the title. Never Knit Your Man a Sweater * (*unless you've got the ring!) 22 Handsome Projects for Every Level of Commitment. I couldn't resist. I picked up a copy for myself. It's got some great patterns for men and I will probably actually knit a few of these projects, which is a rare occurence as I usually buy the books and have them collect dust on my shelf.
Remember my most infamous UFO otherwise known as BF sweater? I guess I can finish it now that I'm wearing this.
I took the train into the city with the girls. I knit the entire way there and back. All I managed to do was turn the heel on both socks and start the gussets. I had grandiose visions of showing you pictures of completed socks... but my socks don't look much different than my last post, so I'll spare you the row-by-row description of stockinette socks. You're welcome. (I knew you were saying "thank you" out there somewhere). I do have some exciting news to share with you. You'll like this. I got a package in the mail with 2 books inside.
Charlene Shurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks is, well, sensational! She creates such tempting sock-o-riffic patterns. I don't know how I can pick just one to start. I've been meaning to make some lace socks with some discontinued Knit Picks sock yarn in black, so maybe that's where I'll start. But this book is calling to me as well.
These Charmed Knits patterns are magical. I have enjoyed watching all four movies to date and spotting the handknit items. I loved Molly's Amazing Technicolor Housecoat when I saw it in the movie... so was thrilled to see the pattern. I don't ever expect to knit/crochet it, but it was great fun to see.
I went to Barnes & Noble this afternoon to purchase a specific book for Primogeniture. That was it. Easy in. Easy out. Right? Wrong. I decided to wander into the craft section and see if any new books had arrived. I ended up picking up Peace Knits and then my eye wandered. Yes. I took a walk on the wild side and picked up the crochet books. I looked. None of them piqued my fancy enough to purchase them, but I was curious. I wandered to the magazine section and picked up the latest copy of Interweave Crochet.
I notice that many knitters are sampling with crochet projects lately - specifically the Larger than Life Granny Square bag
I'm not a crocheter, but I do want to learn. Maybe this will be my first successful dance on the dark side. Wish me luck!
I went to my LYS - Knitting Central - this week and fondled the newest sock yarn. Two sock mavens recently taught classes there - Nancy Bush and Lucy Neatby. I couldn't make either class. I have several Nancy Bush books, but I didn't have any Lucy Neatby books yet. So I picked up Cool Socks Warm Feet
Since I missed the class, I also bought her Sock Techniques I & II DVDs. I haven't had a moment to watch yet, but after all the talk in the shop about the myriad techniques learned from Lucy, I figured the cost of 2 DVDs would be less than taking a class and I could watch them over and over again.
Finally, I picked up two skeins of yarn. The autum colored one is Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino Dram in the Honeypot colourway. The yellow skein is Uruguayan Rio de la Plata Kettle Dyed Knitting Yarn in yellow corn nugget gold.
Such temptations. These alluring yarns are begging me for a little tryst. Don't think about those other FIVE pairs of socks waiting for you at home. Come play with us! We're hot and new and exciting.
Resist. Resist. Resist.
I got Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off from Amazon. When I'm not knitting, I like to think about knitting, plan my next knitting and even read about knitting. This should keep me busy for a little while.
Favorite Socks - 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave arrived at my doorstep today. I'm tingling with anticipation. I must finish the other sox-on-stix so I can start a new pair of socks.
There's even a Favorite Sock Knit-Along to join for those so inclined
I can't decide which pair I like the best. All 25 pairs of socks are worth knitting. It's so hard to decide. Have you knit any socks from this book yet? If so, which ones? What's your favorite pattern in the book?
Wow - what nasty weather! It's been snowing, sleeting, and hailing for about 24 hours straight and it's a mess outside. It's the perfect day to stay inside and read. I know. You thought I was going to say KNIT, didn't you? Nope. This was the kind of weather that really made you want to crawl right back under the covers with a good book. Here's what I finished today - The Keep by Jennifer Egan. It's the latest book for my book club - and to be quite honest, I felt it had too many holes. It was interesting and different, but it didn't do it for me. Did you read this book? What did you think?
I received two more books in the mail and I'm thrilled to pieces. Who wouldn't be? One is by Alice Starmore and the other is by Alice & Jade Starmore. More Starmore is great. See:
Scandinavian Knitwear is one of Alice Starmore's earlier books. It's not really worth the price I paid, but you can see her amazing style in its formative years. The Children's Collection by Alice and Jade Starmore is an excellent addition to any library with many projects that catch the eye.
I bought this book, which coincidentally, combines my two latest knitting interests in one book.
It's Debra Mountford's Aran and Fair Isle Knitting.
It has numerous stitches all laid out in a logical setting that allows the knitter to decide what to add for a personalized aran sweater. I am particularly intrigued by this stitch: 
I think this would make a nice all-over pattern for a sweater without using up too much extra yarn as an Aran sweater might. It's what I'm keeping in mind for a personal project for moi. I have some lovely yarn that might just do the trick. But first things first. I have other projects to finish before I begin a new monumental task.
I've been so inspired by WendyKnits in countless ways. I purchased my first Alice Starmore book - The Celtic Collection - last summer and began the Knit Picks Crayons and Chalkboard vest as my first fair isle project before moving on to an Alice Starmore project. But I really want to do a challenging fair isle sweater for myself. I haven't even decided which one will be my first Alice Starmore.
Now Wendy is knitting Cromarty from The Celtic Collection. It's a beautiful design. I also love the challenge of cables. I love their texture. I love the puzzle that has to be figured out when reading the pattern. I love the rhythmic pace of the ever changing rows. They're never boring. Always exciting. Now that Wendy is making Cromarty, I'm also inspired to knit some cables. Since I'm trying to knit from my stash, it's a bit of a challenge. I don't really have enough yarn for a large cable sweater in the stash. But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. So for starters, I purchased this book
It's the Fishermen's Sweaters by Alice Starmore. What I like about the designs in this book is that all the sweaters have very wide necklines and thick necks. I find it to be a very comfortable and attractive look. I like the XOXO pattern on the sleeve of the cover sweater. I might end up making a sweater from a bit of this and a bit of that from her designs. I tend to do that. I think that's what Aran sweaters were really all about anyway, right?
Look what I got!
It's the companion book to the video I bought this summer. The video was very helpful, but I realized I also needed the book as a reference. I think that these two books are a must have for any fair isle knitter.
OK. Confession Time. I have to admit that I haven't finished my nephew's Crayons and Chalkboard vest. I really want to get it done for him so we can wear it with pride. Maybe now with this book, I will be able to finish it at long last.
I just pre-ordered my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Amazon. I can hardly wait for July 21st. No matter what happens, one thing is clear, it will be the end of Harry Potter, er, at least of the series. At least we'll still have the final 3 movies to look forward to.
I've been on a Ralph Fiennes kick lately. I added several of his movies to my Netflix queue. So this past week I've watched The English Patient (1996), The End of the Affair (1996), Onegin (1999), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and The White Countess (2005). Wuthering Heights (1992) is next in my queue. I guess I should add The Constant Gardener (2005), too.
I've also been reading some interesting books:
Lonely Planet's guide book to Tanzania to get a feel for what our friends are doing there at Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots program.
The Blessing of the Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel.
Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
They all seem so exciting to read that I can hardly wait for some quiet time. Have you read any of these books yet? What did you think?
While I was busy knitting my socks yesterday, I flipped through the channels on the TV and found one of my all time favorite movies just about to begin. That was something I had never seen before (the beginning of the movie), so I knit for 3 hours while Omar Sharif looked at me with those dark brown teary eyes in Dr. Zhivago.
Watching this movie got me thinking -- I never read the book. Maybe it's time to read Boris Pasternak's classic.
While cruising the world of knitting blogdom the other day, I saw this book on Alison's blog. I was so inspired that I instantly ordered a copy for myself. Itty-bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson
It's chock full of adorable hats - many of them are very simple hats with ultra groovy creative twists. I still haven't made a hat for Meg's baby. Well, that's not actually true. I made one. I just didn't like it, so I donated it to the Save-the-Children PTA Knit-a-thon. Now I just have to decide which one to make first. I like the looks of "Reversible Stripes and Dots" on page 121. Maybe that will be my first Itty-Bitty Hat.
I just got home from Book Club where we met a lot of great new members and selected some books to read for next time (since many of us - self included - didn't get around to reading our assigned books in January we kept those on the list, too). Here are our January books:
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
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Both books were written by victims of the Holocaust. One survived. The other did not. Have you read these books? If so, won't you please tell me what you thought of them?
On the knitting front, I have this to say. Never fear, I have been knitting. In fact, I was working on the leg of my second Pink Koigu KPPPM Mock Cable Sock during Book Club. It's not terribly exciting yet, so you'l have to just be patient and wait for the pictures.
Primogeniture and I watched a few holiday movies on DVD today. I really enjoy these two recent classics - The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2. I didn't see the third one in the theatre, but I'll be sure to watch it on DVD.
Knitting Beyond the Edge arrived in the mail for me today. Ahhhh. I just love Nicky Epstein. Have you received your copy yet? What was your favorite part?
This arrived in the mail today: Learn to Knit on Circle Looms
I ordered it from Denise who is the master of loom knitting. She was so kind to give me many tips and links for loom knitting and her book is filled with great projects. These looms have been a huge success for the PTA Knitting Project. Thanks Denise!
I ordered this DVD - The Original Philosopher's Two-Handed Fair Isle and Other Stories - so I could get some visual guidance on my next steps for the Crayons and Chalkboard vest for my nephew Conor. I've had the DVD for nearly a month now and have been stalled on the vest for just as long. Today, I decided to finally iron the linen placemats and napkins from dinner last week while multi-tasking and watching this wonderful tutorial.
I'm not much of a laundress, but my favorite babysitter of all time, Terezinha, used to enjoy ironing as much as I enjoy knitting (I wonder if they have blogs about ironing?). Ironing was Tete's way of relaxing with its rhythmic, soothing tempo and the knowledge of knowing that each garment or sheet ironed was done with the utmost of care and love. I found that today as I pulled out the iron and board and set them up facing the television. I enjoyed the ironing and the serenity it provided. In fact, I ironed golf shirts, pants, blouses, napkins and placemats. I stopped at the underwear, though. You've got to draw a line somewhere.
Alas, I digress. This DVD was very helpful as it talked me through several tips and techniques for knitting a fair isle. It even talked about some tricks for correcting errors. Best of all it gave visual tips on how to add pockets, how to mark the steeks, and last but not least, how to cut the steeks. It's worth the purchase price, but it's definitely going to cost me so much more because now I want to buy at least one kit from Philosopher's Wool. I just can't decide which fair isle sweater to knit first. This also alleviates my problem with the Alice Starmore fair isle sweater patterns. I couldn't figure out where to get the wool! But first things first - I need to finish the crayons and chalkboard vest before I begin another project.
One of my favorite blogs to read is Wendy Knits. She's so inspirational in so many ways. She caused me (unintentionally, of course) to knit BF sweater on a smaller needle (US Size 4). She's currently working on Alice Starmore's Mara and has knit nearly three dozen Starmore designs. So, I took the plunge. I bought Alice Starmore's The Celtic Collection and it arrived in the mail today. I have some other WIPs and future projects in the pipeline, but I will definitely be planning on making an Alice Starmore design in the not too distant future - I just can't decide which one. They are all spectacular works of color. I haven't knit a color work sweater in a few years and never anything on this level. I think it will be a creative color challenge. Thanks Wendy. I think I'm up to it.
I got a great package today with these two books:
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I liked the Stitchionary 2 Book much better than the first. It piqued my interest in doing something with cables in the near future. Maybe I'll knit something for Secundogeniture who browsed the book trying to find the most complicated cable for me to knit. Is he daring to challenge his Mommy?
The Shawls book didn't do anything for me. I'll keep it as part of my Vogue Knitting On The Go collection, but that's about all I can say about it. Maybe I'll revisit the book later and be inspired, but at first glance, I can only say that I'm glad it was a freebie with the purchase of the Stitchionary 2.
Nancie Wiseman's The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques should definitely be on your bookshelf. I bought it at the recommendation of another knitter/blogger. Maybe this book will help me finish all those UFOs and WIPs. What do you think?
I just got this book and I can already tell that it's going to be a great book. I'll probably cry the whole way through it. My Mom died of lung cancer when I had just turned 28 years old and only 7 months after Primogeniture was born. I'm sure I'll have a lot to reflect upon as I read. Anyone else read this?
I watched Walk The Line and fell in love. I think it might be one of my favorite films of all time (after Singing in the Rain and When Harry Met Sally). To give you an idea of how much I enjoyed it, I plopped in the DVD and sat down with my knitting, intending to make real progress on my brown sock. I didn't even pull that brown sock out of the knitting pouch. No sirree. Not me. I was engrossed. My favorite line in the whole movie was "Baby, baby, baby, baby!"
Of course, I had to call my sister and tell her about it. She ran into John & June Cash when they were in Sioux City, Iowa in the 1970s. I remember Ellen's comment even then, "He really does wear all black". Ellen told me yesterday that she saw them twice that week. The second time they were in line in front of her for the matinee and were holding hands just as sweet as could be. I love how all the descriptions of June Cash refer to her as "John's beloved June". That's a nice way to refer to the one you love, don't you think?
I just got this book in the mail today and after my perusal, I think this might be my new favorite sock book. This book has so many patterns that I'll actually make. I'm thrilled by that concept. So many times when I buy a pattern book, I am lucky to find perhaps one pattern that I'll even consider knitting. In this book, the opposite is true. I only found one or two sock patterns that don't appeal to me. That's really saying something, because Charlene Schurch has really created sock patterns that are truly endless in this book. I can hardly wait to
