Monday, August 14, 2006

Pages of knitting

I only own two knitting books right now. (Notice that I’ve left the door open for many more acquisitions.) One is Mason-Dixon Knitting which you all know about, I’m sure. The other is ScarfSTYLE by Pam Allen, editor of Interweave Knits. This was the first book I purchased when I took up knitting again early this year and I love it. My daughter’s huge gorgeous shawl came out of this volume.


What’s so great about it? The sumptuous color photos for one thing, which are so good that you can see the texture of the yarns used in the projects. The helpful illustrated glossary in the back for another: without it I would never have survived the shawl and I refer to it for projects not included in the book as well. In fact, if I had bothered to read the author’s general advice about knitting scarves I would not have had the edge-curling problem I ran into with my son’s soccer scarf.

Every time I page through it I drool over the stunning colors and patterns. There are 30 more styles calling to me to knit or crochet. The hardest part is making up my mind which one to take on next.

7 Comments:

Blogger gypsyknits said...

I have a large knitting book stash but I just bought the Mason Dixon knitting book. I have been wanting that one for a while.I really like it. Keep Knitting!

8:23 AM  
Blogger Nancy Herkness said...

Gypsyknits, let me know what you decide to do first in the Mason-Dixon book. I just bought it too and I'm still just turning the pages.

I like the felted boxes; they look like a fun, quick project and I've never tried felting before. My daughter is lobbying for the nightgown (for her own use, of course).

12:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nancy, do you have any pictures of the felted boxes you could share? Or can you describe them? I'm intrigued. I loved my first felting project, plus I have a friend who adores boxes of any type, so that might be a fun birthday present. I'll go look for the book when I can, but can you give impulsive me a sneak peek?

Jean

4:14 PM  
Blogger Barbara Bretton said...

Jean, in a crazed fit of procrastination (aka please don't ask me to write another chapter, she begged) I Googled "felted knitted boxes" and "felt knit boxes" and "felted knit boxes" and every variation thereof and came up with only one link:
http://fiddlestix.typepad.com/photos/knits_2006/img_0071.html

You really need to get your hands on a copy of Mason Dixon Knitting -- Ann and Kay really have it mastered.

I'm still trying to figure out why there are so few examples out there on the web. Do you think they have a secret identity?

BB

9:21 PM  
Blogger Nancy Herkness said...

Jean and Barbara, I just posted photos of the boxes taken from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. Check them out!

10:27 PM  
Blogger Barbara Bretton said...

There's a wonderful book out there called (and I'm paraphrasing because the book is upstairs and my lazy self is downstairs) Last Minute Gifts. The jacket photo is of a woman's hand with a small knitted purse/pouch resting in her palm. (If memory serves which it doesn't always.) There are some great items in there and I seem to remember something boxy and felted. Then again it might have been a hallucination.

12:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just got back, so this comment is perhaps a little late. Anyway, I decided to knit the linen towel in the M&D knitting book. I ordered cotton yarn on ebay at a great price. It's a bit thinner than the Euroflax but I like it. I'll post it on my blog. Gypsyknits.blogpot.com

9:13 PM  

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