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By Jillian Moreno, Amy R
Singer, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Kay Gardiner,
Jennifer Hendricks, Stephannie Roy, AR
Matson
SR [Finished chest measurement
for sweaters]
= the smallest chest measurement to the largest
chest measurement we could find in the book.
There may be only one pattern with the smallest
or largest size, but it's in there.
Books are softcover unless noted
otherwise.
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Available at Amazon
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No
Sheep for You: knit happy with cotton,
silk, linen, hemp, bamboo & other
delights
by Amy R Singer
Interweave Press
$22.95
SR= 31 – 59.5 inches
Editor's note: When you write a
book, you can't review it yourself,
even [especially!] in your own magazine.
So I've asked two well-known knitters
with distinctly different fiber preferences
to tell me honestly what they think.
Representing those who prefer to
knit sheep-free,
Kay
Gardiner is on the left.
Representing
the sheep-loving world, Stephanie
Pearl-McPhee is on the right. |
Full
disclosure: when
it comes to knitting with non-wool
fibers, I can be something of a know-it-all. Ever
since I discovered, years ago, that
my face was turning purple because
of the handpainted merino pullover
I was wearing so proudly, I
have sought out fibers that (a) were
not acrylic (b) did not make my face
turn purple and (c) were not acrylic. My
hardheaded refusal to have a purple
face led me to the joys of knitting
with cotton, linen, silk, bamboo,
and rayon, to the point that I prefer
these fibers over my old friend wool. Through
trial and error (emphasis on “error”),
I learned which non-wools worked
for different types of knitting and
where to find the non-wool patterns
(spring and summer magazines, mostly). I
was making my way as a non-wool knitter
in a woolly world, and didn’t
think I need much education on the
subject.
In
the words of the old proverb, pride
goeth before a well-deserved butt-kicking. No
Sheep For You is full of wit,
wisdom, and answers to questions
I never even thought to ask about
my favorite fibers. The difference
between bombyx and tussah silk? Now
I know what it is. That pandas
have a role in making yarn out of
bamboo—who knew? Retting,
scutching, hackling: find
out what it means to flax and hemp. Beyond
such fascinating nuggets, Amy offers
invaluable advice and handy charts
that help the knitter decide which
fiber to choose for a specific project
or type of knitting.
And
it’s a wonderful
pattern book. Amy clearly had
her pick of designs, and chose brilliantly. Some
are ingenious solutions to the non-wool
knitter’s quandary of how to
knit a garment that traditionally
is wool—the aran pullover,
the fisherman’s gansey, and
the cabled cardigan, for instance.
Others (and these are my favorites)
are patterns that showcase the distinctive
properties of non-wool yarn, such
as drape, breathability, shine--and
did I mention drape? Amy
proves that in knitting with these
fibers, the point is not to find
a substitute for wool, but to discover
their own delights.
Woollism
is rampant in our knitting culture.
In No
Sheep For You, Amy Singer makes
a joyous and totally convincing case
for multi-fiberism. I get a
giggle thinking that a knitter who
wants to knit these tantalizing patterns
in wool is going to have to substitute. Is
that wrong?
KG |
For the
record, when Amy asked me to review
her book, I thought it was a test,
or a joke, or both. At the very
least I thought that she was attempting
a coup, trying to get the most
sheep-loyal knitter in the universe
to review a book called “No Sheep For You” and
like it. I realized almost instantly
that I was in mortal peril. Here
I was, both Amy’s friend and
the person least interested in her
topic, and I was going to have to
find something nice to say. I struggled
desperately while I waited for it
to come. I made a short list of things
like “the paper is very good” and “Amy’s
spelling is excellent” so that
even if the book wasn’t to
my taste, I would still have some
nice things to say.
Imagine my
relief then, when the book arrived
and despite my fears and admitted
bias, I discovered that I liked
it. I like the patterns (the Bacardi
cardigan may make me a believer
in the possibility of cotton for
colourwork, and unless you have some
real time - don’t even get
me started on the cabled joy that
is the Morrigan pullover) but beyond
putting together lovely patterns
that do justice to these fibres of
non-sheepy origins, Amy had adeptly
written about how to handle these
most mercurial of yarns. (There is
a tip about the myth of the centre
pull ball in there that is so good
that I may bake Amy some cookies.)
Amy celebrates what these fibres
are good at, is deadly honest about
what they can and can’t do,
and delightfully releases them from
their hollow place in the shadow
of my beloved wool. It’s a
good book, even to a resister like
me.
PS. Also,
the paper is very good and Amy’s
spelling is excellent.
SPM |
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Available at Amazon ... Available
at Amazon
Glamour Knits
Classic Knits
by Erika Knight
Potter Craft
$19.95 each book, hardcover
SR= 32 – 48 inches
Erika Knight seems to be heir apparent
to the Rowan crown now that Kim Hargreaves
has left to do her own thing.
She designs in the old-school Rowan
style, the style dear to many, before
the company created RYC yarns and
patterns. Her styles are clean and
classic with enough of a twist to
make them interesting to knit. Each
book has 15 designs. The Classic
collection lives up to its name with
cardigans, pullovers and accessories
designed with a modern twist on classic
inspiration. The Glamour collection
is inspired by old Hollywood, Erika
writes. It's full of things movie
starlets in the 1940s might have
worn...with a few very sexy exceptions.
Yum.
JM & AS |
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Available at Pick Up Sticks!
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Sushi
Wallet Kit
by Pick up Sticks!
$18.00
This is a great kit. I love
the magical way that felting hides
the errors that a beginning knitter
like me occasionally makes. The
kit offers 3 patterns – a cool
stripy bag, a bag with one giant sushi,
and this one that I chose because as
far as I’m concerned – the
more sushi, the better. The pattern
was clear and easy to understand. I’d
never knitted anything with a zipper
before and was impressed by the zipper
flap – a great technique that
makes the bag look much more professional
than you’d expect anything knitted
by a 12-year-old to look. There
was lots of yarn left over, so I’m
going to knit a matching iPod cozy
or cell phone holder.
The sushi were the most fun to knit,
although they were a bit of a challenge
to felt. We ended up hand felting
them, but not all the yarn colours felted
the same amount. This didn’t
really matter – it just made the
sushi look more realistic. I’d
like to add beads to the sushi to look
like flying fish eggs and experiment
with crochet to add more colours and
textures to the sushi.
ARM
editor's note: this reviewer
is 12 years old;
she made the finished sample
shown |
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Available at Amazon
Available at Amazon
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Second-Time
Cool:The Art of Chopping Up A Sweater
by Anna-Stina Linden Ivarsson,
Katarina Brieditis, Katarina Evans
Annick Press
$12.95
Knitprovisation: 70 Imaginative Projects
Mixing Old with New
by Cilla Ramnek
St.
Martin’s Griffin
$21.95
Two inspirational books of the modern
Scandinavian variety. Neither book
has many start-to-finish patterns,
but both are packed with ideas on how
to recycle and reuse finished second-hand
knitwear.
Both books are written by Swedish
fashion designers and incorporate felting,
sewing, embroidery, knitting, and crochet.
Knitprovisation is more eye candy while
Second-Time Cool is more hands-on how-to.
If you like your
knitwear fashion folky, funky and totally
original, you will be motivated by
these books.
JM |
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Available at Amazon
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When
Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters
by Marion Edmonds
and Ahza Moore
Taunton Press
$10.95
This quick witted book is packed with
a wealth of knitting tips that its small
size belies. While it’s true that
everyone could learn something from this
book, beginners and intermediate knitters
will find it invaluable. It’s written
in an engaging style and interspersed
with personal knitting antidotes that
help to make it readable as well as useful.
The greatest thing about this is that
it marks Taunton Press’ return
to the knitting world. Anyone remember
when Threads magazine had knitting content?
Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle
Knitting? Taunton was a thinking knitters
resource. Welcome back.
JM
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Available at Amazon
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Aran
Sweater Design
by Janet Szabo
Big Sky Knitting
$24.95
SR: 36-52 inches
If you are interested in designing (or
even knitting) Aran anything, this is
the book to own. If you have the
first version of this book, you’ll
need this one too – it’s
double in size and nearly double in information.
The book walks you through all of the steps from choosing yarn, creating
and selecting stitches, placing motifs and overall sweater design.
It’s written in a way that you can use it as a workshop start to
finish, or dip in and out for your particular are of interest, like placement
of cables.
There are also four classic Aran patterns:
three sweaters and one vest, if you are
just in the mood to knit a pattern with
no tweaks. But when you read through
this book, you’ll find the designing
of an Aran irresistible and attainable.
JM |
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Available via Offhand
Designs
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Circular
Clutch
by Offhand
Designs
$48 USD
- 5" H x 7.5" W
x 1.5"D closed
- Opens to 17" wide
- Magnetic snap closure
- 5 inside tool slots
- 12 clear vinyl pockets for circular knitting needles
- 1 zipper pocket with custom gold zipper & pull
Oh dear me. I'm smitten.
I have more than a
large tangle of circular needles and
have tested a few different storage solutions.
So far, they've been more of a pain than
an asset.
This one now holds
all my circulars. As with all Offhand
Designs bags, the exterior is made from
a yummy fabric -- chenille, velvet, brocade.
The pattern shown at left is called Bulls
Eye. The lining is a sturdy, thick faille,
color-cordinated to the outside fabric.
But the joy comes in
the amount and layout of the storage
options. Here's how I've got it
set up: the 12 vinyl pockets hold my
circs from size 11 to 2 -- one pocket
per size. Each pocket can hold multiple
needles; the smaller the size, the
more you can fit in each. There is room
in the 5 front pockets for DPNs, notions,
crochet hooks. Whatever you likes. And
at the back, a zippered pocket holds
little things so they don't get lost.
With all the needles
I've crammed into this case, it still
closes securely. And it fits nicely into
my knitting bag, easily spotted, thanks
to the eye-catching design.
If the case
were an inch taller at the spine, I could
probably fit a few more things in the
case, which I'd love. But as it
is, it's the best case I've found anywhere
for storing circular needles, period.
AS |
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Available at Pixierolls
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Straight
needle roll
by Pixierolls
$56.00
Dragonflies once saved my life when
I was treeplanting in an airless valley
of overgrown bush that was filled with
deerflies. So this holder didn't have
to work hard to get deep into my greedy
knitterly heart.
This needle holder is a new look on
a classic design. The fabric [silk
and velvet] is dreamy and it makes
me want to buy beautiful handmade needles
to stock it. There are two handy tiers
of pockets to accommodate different
lengths of needles. Needle management
systems have rarely inspired me like
this needle holder from Pixierolls.
JH
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Available via Barefoot
Knits
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Barefoot
Knits
by Christine
Schwender and Paula Heist
$24.95 hardcover
Authors Christine
Schwender and Paula Heist have created
a fabulous book of easy-to-knit, classic,
fun pieces for children sized 2-10. This
book has pattern for just about everything:
sweaters, shorts, dresses, skirts,
tees, halters, blankets, pillows and
even a bikini.
All patterns use
the same easy-care yarn, Brown Sheep
Cotton Fleece, a common worsted-weight
gauge and even some nifty tie-dying
to spice things up. This is a
great book of basics that can be used
for quick kiddie knits or as a template
from which to start adding your own
design elements, fancy yarns and whatever
else you (or your child) wants to try.
SR |
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Available at Amazon
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Punk
Knits: 26 Hot New Designs for Anarchistic
Souls and Independent Spirits
by Share Ross
STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book
$19.95
SR= 34- 48 inches
This book has a unique
and independent knitting voice. It comes
across loud and clear that Share loves
to knit and isn’t interested in
falling into the "f**k the world"
punk
rock cliché. The patterns are
fun, sexy and most are quick to knit.
My favorites are the Skull Kilt and the
Pixie Shoulderette (thank you for designing
a sexy shrug!).
Part of the knitting
world has been waiting for more books
that can stand next to Debbie Stoller’s
Stitch and Bitch in attitude and design
flavor. This one has got it in spades.
JM |
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Available at Lacis.com
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Beads
Knitting
by Kotomi Hayashi
Lacis
$30.00
A bead knitting (and crocheting) book
of just wrist warmers and bags? Written
in Japanese? Still there? It’s
gorgeous.
And after initial freak out (note to
self: no matter how hard you stare at
it, you’ll never read Japanese)
and studying of the excellent diagrams,
the patterns can be followed. Check this
page for easy how-to-read-Japanese-pattern
instructions. The wrist warmers
are especially easy to follow, knit side
to side in garter stitch – the
bead charts are the only bits to pay
attention to.
JM |
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Available at Amazon
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Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs
from Interweave
Edited by Ann Budd and Anne Merrow
Interweave Press
$22.95, Hardcover over
wire spine
Finally, Interweave answered the clue
phone! The
publishers that started the whole sock
phenom have put out a greatest sock hits
book. Actually that's not
entirely true -- the book includes 19
already published sock patterns mostly
from Interweave Knits (some from Piecework
and Spin Off, too) and 6 new patterns.
Mostly top-down socks, they're
presented in a
fantastic "I'm a hardcover but I
lay open and flat"
book package.
Now if we could convince them to do a
sock book a year...
JM |
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Available at Amazon
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Never Knit Your Man
a Sweater
by Judith Durant
Storey Publishing
$19.95
SR=38-50 inches
The marketing angle
of this book riffs on the ‘Boyfriend
Myth’ that knitting a sweater
for a boyfriend will make him run for
the hills. But what this book is really
about is the knitting.
Knitting patterns
for men have been in short supply, especially
patterns that are interesting to the
knitter and considered wearable by the
recipient. If the man you knit for likes
his knits pretty basic with twists here
and there to keep it from being Plain
James -- think Gap --
this is the book for both of you. The
projects range in complexity from a block
stitch scarf to a aran cardigan, and
in variety from scarves, hats, socks,
vests and sweaters.
JM |
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Available at Amazon
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The
Yarn Girls’ Guide to Knits for
Older Kids
by Julie Carles and Jordana
Jacobs
Potter Craft
$30.00 hardcover
There are lots of
great patterns for babies, but not
so many for kids that are old enough
to have strong opinions about what
they’ll wear. This book
is a collection of quick-knit patterns
for four to ten-year olds that are
fun, fast and fabulous.
The Yarn
Girls start with great yarns and big
gauges so you can knit with fibres
you love and finish the garments before
your kids grow out of them. I
really like how all patterns are shown
on both girls and boys. There’s
even a collection of frou-frou girlie
knits, unisex hats, scarves, pillows
and blankets; plenty to keep your older
kid in fashionable hand-knits.
SR |
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Available at Amazon
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Freeformations: Design
and Projects in Knitting and Crochet
by Jenny
Dowde
Sally Milner Publishing
$19.95
There is an amazing amount of information
in this freeform knitting and crochet
book. Even if freeform isn’t your
thing, this book is worth a peek. If
you are interested in trying freeform,
or already love it, this should become
your go-to book.
Principals of design, gallery of amazing
garments, freeform design concepts, how-to
shapes and shaping, designing a garment-
including templates, start to finish
patterns, and even a dozen pages on color
theory.
Note to spinners: freeform uses lots
of different weights and lengths of yarn,
perfect for your stash of handspun.
JM |
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Available at Amazon
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Lace
Style: Traditional to innovative, 21
inspired designs to knit
by Pam Allen and Ann Budd
Interweave Press
$24.95
SR=30-50 inches
Perfectly timed to hit at the height
of the lace frenzy, this book is a cornucopia
of lace knitting. 21 patterns range from
just a touch of lace to smothered in
lace, all lovely and feminine.
My favorite
part of the book, as in all of the Interweave “Style” series
is the Design Notebook. This one is a fat
24 pages of how, why and when of lace,
including fixing mistakes and incorporating
lace into your own designs.
JM |
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Available at Amazon
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Knits
from a Painter's Palette: Modular Masterpieces
in Handpainted Yarns
by Maie Landra
Sixth&Spring Books
$24.95 hardcover
Koigu is my desert
island yarn. The beautiful handpainted
colours would keep me inspired and
it’s a great sproingy yarn for
everything from sweaters to socks to
lace to baby clothes. A new book
telling the story of how Koigu and
the accompanying clothing-as-art pattern
collection came to be provides lots
of inspiration and yarn-eye-candy for
any Koigu addict.
It brings together
most of the already available Koigu
pattern collection (including the Charlotte’s
Web shawl and Jazz cardigan) and some
new designs and ideas. While
many patterns are very involved and
are not for everyone, this book shows
how beautiful yarn and some ingenuity
can turn knitting into art.
SR |
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Available at Amazon |
Felt
It!: 20 Fun and Fabulous Projects to
Knit and Felt
by Maggie Pace
Storey Publishing
$18.95
From the creative
mind behind Pick Up Sticks kits and patterns,
this is a start to finish book on felting – knit-then-felt
felting.
It takes you from
choosing fiber, the hows and whys of
felting, and even a FAQ on felting. The
stars of the book are Maggie’s
patterns, some you may have seen as kits
but most are brand new.
What makes Maggie’s
patterns sing is the detail. Most felted
patterns are pretty plain single color
things, with not much going on besides
the texture of the felt. Not so with
Maggie -- she uses multiple colors, interesting
shaping and construction. A shout out
to her book designer who has made very
readable pattern pages that don’t
need to be enlarged to use.
JM |
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Available via Lantern
Moon
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Destiny
circulars
by Lantern Moon
$23.85 per pair and up [price varies by retailer]
Some knitters love the most spartan
of needles. Others like their tools to
add another layer of sensual pleasure
to their knitting experience. For the
latter knitter, I can wholeheartedly
recommend the Destiny circulars from
Lantern Moon.
These needles have ebony or
rosewood tips which are warm and smooth
to knit with. Yarn slides easily but
not too easily. The cords are made of
flexible low-memory nylon which relaxes
more easily than other circulars. The
join between the two is made of machined
brass to provide a seamless connection
between needle and cord. The needle
also rotates, helping you to easily untwist
your knitting if you need to.
The quality of these needles is clearly
evident as you knit with them. I liked
them so much that, after trying out my
first test pair provided by Lantern Moon,
I found reasons to buy 3 additional pairs
for subsequent knitting projects. These
are tools to be treasured.
When these needles were first released
to yarn shops, some of the tips came
loose from the brass fitting. Lantern
Moon investigated the problem and eliminated
it so it's no longer a concern. If you
happen to have a pair of the early-version
needles, contact the company and they'll
replace them.
One of the most important reasons
to buy these needles is because of the
people that make them. You can read
their story here.
As their website says, "We work
directly with our producers to provide
income, education and self-reliance to
Vietnamese women and their families." That's
really cool.
AS |
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Available at Amazon
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200
braids to twist, knot, loop or weave
by Jacqui
Carey
Interweave Press
$27.95 USD hardcover/spiral bound
What good is a braiding
book to us knitters? TONS! If you're
looking for a new idea for a belt for
your cardigan or an edge treatment
to sew on after your work of art is
off the needles, you must see this
book.
It's well illustrated
with how-tos for every technique from
simple braiding, adding beads, knotting,
weaving, loopwork and ply-split darning.
And most handily, a photographic index
at the back of the book that goes on
for pages and pages lets you browse all
the styles until you find just the right
one for your project. Brilliant.
AS |
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Available via Louet
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Hand
Dyeing Kit - green version
[comes in blue, pink, green, red or
brown]
by Louet
$35.00
Louet’s Hand Dyeing Kit is a
great way to get a brief introduction
to one of the many different ways you
can dye your own yarn. It comes with
Louet Gems Merino Wool, 3 pots of Acid
dye from Gaywool and wool wash.
The instructions were clear and manageable
for the first-time dyer. Louet does
a great job at maintaining the technical
stretch of the instructions to a beginner
level. I didn’t feel intimidated
or out of my league using this kit.
My only area of concern is that the
kit uses the microwave technique to
set the acid dyes which only gets mentioned
when you read through the detailed
instructions in the package. It’s
a good introduction to this technique,
but there is no mention of fumes and
food safety if the microwave you are
using is one you also use for food.
I’m looking forward to continuing
my dyeing adventures and feel that
this beginners kit has given me the
perfect nudge in the right direction.
JH |
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Available at Amazon
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Knitty
Gritty Knits
by
Vickie Howell
Lark Books
$14.95
Yes, these are all patterns
that have been on the show and
no, Cat Borhdi’s moebius
isn’t
here.
Why would you want a book of patterns
that you could get free on line?
It’s
all in the detail. Having the patterns
all together in a well-photographed book
is great, but having the close up step-by-step
how-to photography for each project is
fantastic.
JM |
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 Available at Amazon
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The
Natural Knitter
by Barbara Albright
Potter Craft
$32.50, hardcover
SR= 32-55 inches"
A phenomenal book. Starting from the
core element -- the yarn -- this book
explores the essence of knitting. It’s
comprehensive in its information
about natural fibers, written in a factual,
but never dry style. The photography
is Martha Stewart beautiful, and the
patterns are gorgeous, perfect foils
for the natural fibers they are intended
to showcase. The designers are a who’s
who of knitting, selected for their signature
styles.
Two standouts are Norah Gaughan’s
Architectural Rib Pullover and Debbie
New’s Cast Off Sweater. A book
full of the joy and love of knitting,
a fitting tribute to a woman whose
work brought so much to so many knitters.
JM |
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©
2007 Knitty magazine.
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