I had lunch yesterday with a dear friend who presented me with these:
Kitty Needles!
I also got to the library yesterday for the first time in quite a while. I can go to any library in the consortium (about 30 cities and towns) but the one most convenient to me is down for a couple of years - undergoing badly needed repairs and redesigning. I have finally found another that isn’t too difficult to get to, has a nice array of material and (very important) has plenty of free parking :)
Among many others, I took out three knitting related books: The Knitting Stitch Bible by Maria Parry-Jones, Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti and Meg Swanson’s Knitting by Meg Swanson.
First impressions?
I’ve been eyeing The Knitting Stitch Bible for quite a while, having leafed through it in the bookstore, admired it’s very useful design (hard covers, ring bound), colorful photos and been frightened off by its cost - $29.95. It’s not a very big book and useful though it might be, that’s a lot of money to shell out. Having had the opportunity to go through it a bit more last night, it seems to me that there are other reasons to think before adding this one to the library. First, almost all of the stitch patterns can be found elsewhere - there isn’t much new here. Second, while it’s nice that there are color photographs of each stitch pattern, in some of the photographs, the stitch pattern is difficult to impossible to make out. Third, some of the samples are not very well done. If you still have to have it, Amazon offers it for just over $20.
Knitting in Plain English looks useful and is indeed presented in a pleasant and straight-forward manner. Righetti doesn’t resort to buzz-words and fad terms which are usually intended to display the author’s technical prowess and to make the reader feel stupid. I only scanned the first few chapters, but my impression so far is that this would be a useful book to read - if not own.
Meg Swanson’s Knitting is lovely to look at and filled with delightful stories about Swanson’s life and, of course about Swanson’s mother - Elizabeth Zimmermann. The patterns she offers aren’t for the faint of heart and they’re not for an inexperienced knitter as directions are casual and written for knitters who are familiar with stranded techniques. But the designs are fabulous and you might want\to look through it to see the kinds of things to which you might aspire someday. For me, that day is a long ways off but a couple of those sweaters make me want to hasten it along :)
In the window...
Harry Potter Scarf - II
No trackbacks yet.
goldie looks positively spiffy- our creatures shed way back in about march or april and are now sporting a rather skanky looking summer coat-i’m sure a good brushing (often) would improve their looks and be a boon to their ‘summer skin’ too-
i have and enjoy the meg swanson books- like ez’s books, they are good reads and rereads- i’m sure for those clever/creative/daring enough to really think through a projected project and try to wing it, they are definitely a plus- i am a lemming however, and while i may modify i don’t think outside the box enough to fly solo-
stay happy- oh, the cotton left here today and should arrive there early next week- the box containing it sat lonely and neglected in my car while my daughter borrowed the car-
We all do what we’re comfortable with - that’s how it works :) Sometimes I wing it and sometimes I follow the pattern to the letter. Thanks again for the cotton - I’m looking forward to finishing the new bathmats :)
What a beautiful kitty!!!! Goldie is absolutely gorgeous! My cats are shedding terribly, but I don’t worry about the extra cat hair in all my knitted goodies—added warmth! 
Hi Lisa :) Yes, he is an exceedingly handsome animal - he’s also as goofy as a three dollar bill. I’ve always felt that goofy animals make the best pets
Yes, goofy is best...certainly in our family! Emma is very strange goofy. That’s why we love her so much!
Cute kitty needles - I’ve seen them at Hobby Lobby. Lion Brand has come out with some neat things recently.
I used to have Righetti’s “Crocheting in Plain English” and I always liked her chatty style...much different than EZ’s chatty style. If that makes any sense! I obviously need more of this------->
We all have that knitting jar, don’t we? The knitter’s standard accessory....
Gorgeous Goldie!
Bron - Your’re right about Righetti’s style - not condescending or jargon-laden, comfortable and clear but very different from EZ’s style. I always feel more comfortable with this approach than with, say, the approach something like the classic Vogue knitting reference uses. But, that’s such a tremendous resource, it’s worth the effort.
Love hearing that Emma’s goofy too :) I would have bet on it!
Rachael - Absolutely! Along with the zip-lock bag of assorted accessories and what-nots.
Is Goldie a stray? Our cat, Bela, was a stray, found by our neighbors’ daughter at college - she named him Bela. When she graduated and moved on, she dropped the kitty off at Mom’s, but he couldn’t ‘meld’ (sic) with their household. He kept hanging around with us. He scrounged for food all over the neighborhood, because he wouldn’t eat at his own house. One day he showed up with mats all over his fur, and I just had to comb him out. After that, he was ‘our’ kitty. The neighbors gave us his vet papers, and that was it. We tried to change his name but no luck. Now he never has tangled matted fur anymore, but he just loves to be groomed.
OMG! Karen, your Bela is just beautiful!! Those blue eyes are killer - what an extraordinarily handsome animal :)
Goldie wasn’t a stray. In fact he was born right in our front room and has never even been out of doors except for trips to the vet. His coloring and your Bela’s are about identical and, from what you say about the mat problems, their coats are similar in character too!
What a happy site and sight! I am a knitter of 30 years experience. I’d rate myself an intermediate. EZ and Meg intimidate me though they are good reads. I don’t have their courage. Maggie Righetti is more comfortable for me. I recently read that she is ill and no longer knits. Do you know what happened? Do you know how Chris Swanson died? Just curious (nosey).
Though I understand repeats, I’m not good w/ the partial repeats which occur when decreasing and/or increasing. Do you have any secrets on making this simpler?
Last inquiry - I have 500 yards of a lovely blue-grey hand dyed mohair. I think it needs to be a shawl but in a simple pattern to show off the different hues. And it does not work well on my aluminium needles - too slippery. Any pattern suggestions or needle knowledge?
