Wednesday 29 February 2012

New Books and a Couple of WIPs

I am so giddy.  I got a delivery from Amazon this morning.  I got two books I've been thinking about getting for a while.  I decided to splash out, as I considered both books an investment, for different reasons.

The first book is Sew What! Skirts.

Sew What Skirts

This is a book I've had my eye on for well over a year.  I got the spiral bound version as I think it will make it easier to follow instructions when working on a project.  I've had a quick flick through the book already, and it seems to be exactly what I was looking for.  The book helps you draw up a basic pattern for a skirt that fits your measurements.  It then goes on to help you adapt that simple pattern into a variety of different styles.  I have a small waist, in relation to my large hips and I find getting non-elasticated skirts to fit properly quite difficult.  I made my first skirt nearly 2 years ago and it really was completed on a wing and a prayer, but I love it.  I really wanted to make more and I decided rather than referring back and forth to the internet a book would be a wise investment.

I hope to try out this book as the weather warms up and I start to emerge from my woolly garments.  When I give the book a test drive, I'll let you know how it goes.

The other book is something I have desired for a much shorter time.  It was only republished very recently, but there was so much talk about it all over the Internet I decided that I must look at it.  After looking at it, on Amazon, and from reading other knitter's views of the book I decided that for the grand total of £24.99 I was going to take a risk.  I downloaded a sample on my Kindle App and thought it looked great.  I was debating whether to get in on Kindle or whether to get the book.  I decided in the end that I love text books, especially craft ones, and I wanted to sit with this particular book on my lap.  If I'd know about it's size before I got it, I might have rethought that lap sitting!

Principles of Knitting 02

My fingers are shown for scale.  The eagle eyed amongst you might have worked out what this mighty tome is.

Principles of Knitting 01

Yes, it is all 712 pages of  The Principles of Knitting: Methods and Techniques of Hand Knitting.  If you work out the price per page, I'm sure it is an amazing bargain!  I have the Vogue The Ultimate Knitting Book.  It was one of my first knitting encyclopaedia and I really like it, but it isn't as technical as this new book seems to be.  The diagrams in the book look clear and easy to understand and I can see myself working through various sections of the book to learn new and interesting techniques.

The Internet is great for searching for tutorials on "how to..." but you need to know the name before you can search for the tutorial.  My thoughts are that this book will really help me to investigate new ways of doing things.  I have always loved learning and I especially like learning things about knitting, so this is a book I know I will treasure for a very long time.  I'm not sure if my shelves will take it's weight though!

So now I've told you all about my books I'll revert to that old standby for Wednesday, the WIP!

My Leaves of Grass shawl is coming along nicely.

Leaves of Grass 03

Now doesn't that look great?  No, not really.  If I spread it out a bit you can see a bit more.

Leaves of Grass 02

No, it still doesn't look great, does it?  I don't think this project will look good until it is cast off and blocked.  Until then I'll probably not bother sharing photos.  It's a shame I can't show you more as I've made pretty good progress.  I'm now on my first repeat of the outer lace section.  This section has two repeats of a 32 row chart.  After that is complete I do a knitted on border.  I think that border may take quite some time!

As a contrast to the complicated shawl I have cast on another pair of socks.  Yes, that does mean I have finished my other pair.  They are on my feet right now and mighty fine they are too.  But as this isn't a Friday I'm not sharing them with you!  I'll only tease you with my newly cast on socks.

Kaffe Fassett Socks 01

They are very newly cast on, as in I'm only about a third of the way through the toes.  Socks have become my comfort knitting again.  It's lovely to have got back into the habit of knitting them.  I find the stocking stitch soothing when I'm feeling ropey.  Plus I get something useful out of it.

Hope you get better photos from other people's posts about their WIPs.  Click the button to check them out.

WIP Wednesday Button.jpg


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