Tag: book review

Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary: Win Book and Yarn!

Welcome to the Knitcircus stop on the Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary Blog Tour! I’ve long been a fan of Wendy Bernard’s patterns, blog and books, so getting to talk about her new one is a true pleasure.

KnittingAllAround91959JF-web

The Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary is a welcome follow-up to Wendy’s Up, Down, All-Around Stitch Dictionary.

I’ve been a big Wendy Bernard fan for many years; since back in the day when knitting blogs were new, Knit and Tonic has always been a leading voice in the fiber-blog community. Wendy’s California-chic designs captivated me from the start. Her Favorite Cardigan (below) has long been one of the sweaters I most want to knit.

Favesweater_small2

Wendy has a knack for breaking down large ideas (design your own hat, cowl, sweater) into manageable parts and reconstructing it so that you feel confident tackling your next project. If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out her Custom Knits series, I highly recommend them. The Custom Knits 1 and Custom Knits 2  books show you how to design your own top-down sweater, with lots of tips and patterns by Wendy. The Custom Knits Accessories is my fave, since I’m mostly an accessories knitter. She gives you all the tools you need to create your own sock, hat and other accessories patterns, with clear guidelines so you can succeed.

The All -Around Stitch Dictionaries build on Wendy’s expertise in guiding knitters to technical success. Most stitch dictionaries give you a stitch pattern and written directions for working the pattern flat; the more modern ones often include a chart. Wendy noticed that changing from flat to knitting in-the-round could sometimes be tricky, so she includes charts for both. She also gives the reader insight into which kinds of stitches do well on both sides (when designing a scarf, that’s key), and indicates which patterns are fully reversible, two sided (look good, but are different on each side) or only to be used with one side showing.

The second installment, The Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary, includes very clear photos and charts for every stitch, but in her usual inimitable way, Wendy includes a whole Designing From Scratch appendix, with basic recipes for Basic Top-Down Socks, Basic Toe-Up Socks, Top-Down Cap, Bottom-Up Cap and Triangular Shawls in Two Directions,  with beautiful photos for each.

IMG_6836                        Here’s a photo I snapped from my copy of the book (notice the user-friendly notebook binding?). This shows the Checkerboard Cables charts and photos. Thanks to the publisher  for letting me share this pattern! You can see they’re awfully nice, clear charts and photos showing both sides of the swatch.

IMG_6834

WIN THE BOOK AND YUMMY YARN

Stewart, Tabori and Chang are so generous, they’re giving away not only a copy of Wendy’s new book, but 2 hanks of yarn from Blue Sky Alpacas. (USA readers only for shipping, please!)

Now, I’m sure you’re all champing at the bit to know how you can win the Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary and the yarns. Just comment and tell us:

What would you be likely to knit with the Stitch Dictionary? Sweater, Socks, Hat, Cowl, Shawl? Which way would you knit it? Top-down, bottom up, in the round or flat?

Follow the rest of the stops on the blog tour to see more stitch patterns from the book!

 

5/18: AboutKnitting.com

5/23: Craft Gossip

5/11: WEBS

5/28: Blue Sky Alpacas

 

Advertisement

Knitcircus Podcast #64

In which Amy gets all Scottish, Jethro gets pony-sized and Jaala  sneaks in some tv.

Listen on Libsyn or iTunes

Mentioned this episode:

Di Gilpin

Ysolda Teague

Alice Starmore

Jamieson and Smith

Jamieson’s of Shetland

The Art of Slip Stitch Knitting, by Faina Goberstein and Simona Merchant-Dest

Knitcircus Fall Retreat

Susan B. Anderson 

Knitcircus Fall Collection

Buffalo Wool Company

Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival

Knitcircus Podcast #58

It’s up!

Jaala has some HUGE news and Amy is about to go to Ireland.

Thank you to Mary R! She both gave Jaala a shawl and helped keep her from crying of exhaustion.

Listen on Libsyn or iTunes

SPOILER ALERT: TV talk starts at 21:10 and ends at 24:19

Linky Things

Knitcircus Podcast #57

In which Amy and Jaala discuss their aspirational knitting and have a mini book club.

Listen on Libsyn or iTunes

Discussed in this episode:

Knitcircus Podcast #56

Amy and Jaala are thankful for the spring reprieve and reflect on the Madison Knitter’s Guild Knit In. Later, Amy makes a shocking confession.

Listen on Libsyn or iTunes

Mentioned this episode:

Brand New Bag(s), Dr. Who and Curls

Hi, Knitters,

First of all, thank you for such a wonderful response to the newsletter on Friday! We’re excited to put all of our new Lair improvements to work on your orders. Yesterday, with our new system tweaks and with Assistant Dyer Erin aboard, we dyed more yarn than ever before in a single day.

Weekend Update

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Ours was pretty chill. Lil Buddy had a Futsal game both days. If you’re like me, and had never actually heard of Futsal, it was developed in the 30s-40’s in Brazil, and is basically soccer played with a smaller, heavier ball on a gym floor.Here he is in Saturday’s game.

IMG_1896[1]

Sunday’s game was during the big Packer football match. We left my parents and 92-year-old Grandma glued to the game, drove to Verona and walked in to the gym just before 4:00….only to find the futsal game was at 3:00. In my history as a soccer, baseball, basketball and judo mom, we’ve never blown a game before. Totally embarrassing. Lil Buddy was a good sport about it.

But I got to give my grandma her Sunday manicure, so definitely a silver lining there.

Brand New Bags

I asked in the Knitcircus Ravelry Group for advice on where to find a more structured project bag, and you guys really delivered! After checking out the wonderful shops you recommended, I purchased not one, but two new project bags, and I’m thrilled with both!

IMG_1903[1]

This one is by Birdlegbags. Mostly, I just can’t resist matryoshkas, but when it arrived, I was very impressed with the quality handmade product. It has a beautiful Millefiori bead on the closure,the strap was fussy cut to produce a perfect row of smiling faces and it has a little clip on the other side (not shown) with a carabiner for attaching to your belt! IMG_1901[1]

It’s also lined with a beautifully-sewn lining with rainbow-colored knit stitches. I’m a big birdlegbags fan now!

The second box project bag came from Zigzagstitches; look at that delightful graphic print! This bag was also very professionally-sewn, with a grosgrain ribbon tab you could put a carabiner in and a pretty contrasting lining.

IMG_1821[1]IMG_1822[1]

I’m so happy to have found these two stores. We’ve got a ski trip coming up this weekend; hack, no, I’m not skiing, I’m knitting and making big pans of lasagna! Can’t wait to use both of these.

Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey

We’re very excited about the new Dr. Who yarn club (so much so that Wet Processor Lena spends much of her break time searching for the perfect gifts for the Club members). It’s three packages/6 months of yarn inspired by the many regenerations of The Doctor and his plucky human companions.

DR_WHO_SQUARE

The Doctor may have an enlightened view of the nature of time, but for Earth purposes, the Club membership is only open until tomorrow, so please hop on over and sign up if you haven’t yet!

Curls

I’m a huge fan of all of Hunter Hammersen’s patterns, and her new book shows a whole new side to her design talents. Curls uses a unique shawl construction Hunter developed to create versatile cowl/shawl pieces. Once you’ve grasped the idea, the pieces are very achievable, and she includes a variety of designs from very simple repeats to the deluxe lace wrap shown on the cover.

IMG_1826[1]

Chris gifted me with a gorgeous skein of handspun for my birthday, and I’m going to show it off with either Hunter’s Caesious simple wrapped-stitch pattern or the cozy cables of her Icterine shawl.

Well, off to dye up more yarn, have a wonderful Tuesday,

Jaala

Hitch Blog Tour and Giveaway!

Image

Today I’m very excited to be part of the blog tour AND you can win a digital copy!

Hitch includes 29 patterns from different designers; you’ll find sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves, socks. And shawls!

As you may know, Stephannie Tallent, the editor of this volume, worked closely with me as a tech editor for Knitcircus magazine and helped develop our excellent templates and tech-editing workflows. She can edit a pattern like nobody’s business, designs gorgeous, intricate patterns and has a vision for beautifully-designed and executed garments of all kinds.

I was thrilled when Stephannie released her first book, California Revival Knits, and happy to get a chance to be part of this collection honoring the work of one of her favorite directors. If you look at the cover, my design, the Miss Fremont shawl, was lucky enough to get a cameo there!

Untitled-1hitch collage 1

The Hitchcock film I like best is Rear Window, so I looked at Grace Kelly’s costumes, other sketches by costume designer Edith Head and other clothing of the time for inspiration. I was particularly struck by the full New Look skirt with flowers radiating from the waist, so took that as the inspiration for my shawl design.

;hitch collage 2

The Half-Pi shawl is a favorite shape of mine, so within that construction, I chose a lace pattern to echo the feminine floral of the skirt. Here you can see the original sketch, the lace swatch, and final shawl blocked and pinned. Believe it or not, this was designed before I began dyeing gradients, but you can see that the idea was definitely starting to unfold! The shawl is worked in Blue Sky’s Alpaca Sport Weight, 100% baby alpaca, which was a joy to knit, soft, fuzzy and drapey, so perfect for a shawl.

So many wonderful designers are represented in Hitch, which uses red, white and black to highlight the drama and suspense of the theme. Go check out all the Hitch Designs on Ravelry and tell me which one you’d like to knit first! Leave a blog comment, and the Random Number Generator will choose a winner for us Sunday evening, the 17th of November.

Want to participate in a Knit-A-Long or hear about more giveaways? Join the Hitch group on Ravelry.

The Full Blog Tour

9/28/2013: Sunset Cat Designs
10/5/2013: Knitting Kninja
10/05/13: Knit One, Heart Too Podcast
10/7/2013: Herrlichkeiten
10/8/2013: Knit and Travel
10/9/2013: Knit & Knag Designs
10/10/2013: Wooly Wonka Fibers
10/11/2013: Verdant Gryphon
10/15/2013: Impeccable Knits: Shifting Stitches
10/16/2013: Rewolluzza
10/21/2013: Knitwear Designs by Carolyn Noyes
10/22/2013: Peacefully Knitting
10/23/2013: Dark Matter Knits
10/24/2013: Turnknit: Dani Berg Designs
10/25/2013: SweetGeorgia Yarns
10/28/2013: doviejay knits
10/29/2013: Triona Designs
10/30/2013: Tactile Fiber Arts (you’re here!)
11/4/2013: A Knitter’s Life
11/5/2013: Catchloops
11/6/2013: Yarn On The House
11/07/2013: Ramblings
11/12/2013: Hazel Knits
11/13/2013: Knitcircus
11/19/2013: indigodragonfly
11/9/2013: Fyberspates
11/22/2013: A B-ewe-tiful Design
11/25/2013: knittingkirigami

Fresh Designs: Sweaters Review and Giveaway

Image

Thanks to our wonderful friends at Cooperative Press, we have another book review and giveaway for you: Fresh Designs: Sweaters!

The Fresh Designs series is Co-op Press helmswoman Shannon Okey’s brainchild; she wanted to feature up-and-coming designers and independent yarns in specific knitting collections. The series also includes collections for Men, Hats, Shawls and Scarves, with planned Kids, Bags, Mittens,Toys and Home books.

Ten sweaters are featured in the book, from tank tops to hoodies, with garments including cables, achievable lace and a nice array of constructions techniques.

ziggy_med-150x150

My favorites from the collection: Pamela Wynne’s Ziggy, with its crisp chevron stripes, and the Everything Nice Hoodie, by Teri Gurbisz.

hoodie1_medium-150x150

This modern sweater collection e-book could be yours; just leave a comment about which sweater you would most like to knit! The Random Number Generator will choose a lucky winner on Sunday, March 17th.

Take care,

Jaala

Knitcircus Podcast #29

What’s your knitting “default setting?” The gals reveal theirs, talk linen stitch, hard-to-find-yarn and coin a new term. 

This podcast was recorded over skype; sorry for the echoes. Jaala was apparently knitting at the bottom of a well. Next time: none of that!

Listen on Libsyn or iTunes.

Mentioned this podcast:

Knitcircus Podcast Facebook Page There may be special deals and treats for people who are in on the secret….

Churchmouse Yarn and Teas

Pinterest

Phat Fiber

Nancy Marchant

Craftsy

The Knitter’s Life List

Susan B. Anderson

Wollmeise

The Loopy Ewe

 

 

Beekeeper’s Quilt

Sally Melville Styles