12 October 2007

books and afghans

dear mum,
my knitting has been going well. i started knitting my mobius cowl, using elizabeth zimmerman's technique from knitting around. it's progressing quite nicely. i'm contemplating how to make the wool smell less badly; my current favorite is washing it in the henna shampoo i got in vancouver.

i'm also working on some socks, but when am i not? these socks, however, are special. i'm using toes and heels from nancy bush's folk socks and stich patterns from sensational knitted socks, both of which i love so much that i'm going to buy them soon. the other special things is that they're for afghans for afghans.



i'm forcing myself to finish the second pair (the purple and green ones are finished, all they need is the ends woven in) before i start a pair of socks for myself. i found a pattern that i love and am reknitting my orange "cable net" socks into them, since the one i finished turned out horrendously.

other books that i really like that i've gotten from the library:
-knitting vintage socks (also by nancy bush)
-loop-d-loop
-scarf style (i've coveted the turtleneck shrug for years)
-fitted knits
-fishermen's sweaters (alice starmore does cables, need i say more?)

how are your wip's going, i haven't heard about them in a while?
love,
anna

05 October 2007

more books

dear mum,
i now have a huge stack of knitting books on my floor from the library. i've perused several them and here are the best ones of the lot.

knitting around is amazing. it's by elizabeth zimmerman, need i say more? it's also got a significant memoir portion as well, which is really awesome. it's got a pattern for these really interestingly constructed mittens, which i'm thinking of knitting.

domiknitrix makes me super happy. the projects are really cool and the author doesn't approve of crochet or blocking. my type of girl. it's definately on my wish list.

traditional knitted & lace shawls you are probably well aware of my burgoning obsession with lace shawls and if it lasts like i think it will, i definately want to get this book. it's basically a how-to knit and design lace shawls with a ton of lace patterns so that you can do your own designing, my favorite aspect is the "how to wear them" section, with several different ways to wear your lace shawls and stoles, nifty, no?

big girl knits doesn't have patterns that really speak to me, but the sections that talk about how to fit your handknits are invaluable to a curvy girl like me. i'd buy this book for the fitting section and bust dart directions alone but it also has a section about figuring out what styles to wear depending on which body parts you want to flatter or minimize.

mason-dixon knitting. need i say more? it's exactly what i would expect from ann and kay and therefore is going onto my wishlist. the patterns are really great, but the real highlights are the stories and musings.

knitting nature is amazingly nerdy and amazingly beautiful. the introductions to each section speak to my biology nerd side (which, admittedly is pretty big) and the beautiful patterns speak to my compulsive knitter side. not only are the end results beautiful, appealing to the product knitter in me, but the patterns are unique and interesting to knit, which appeals to my dominating process knitter. i want. very much.

knit 2 together i have to agree with everyone who has good things to say about this book (it even has the pattern for the ginormo two-person sweater from the cover!). the patterns are really nice and definately things that i would knit, but, like mason-dixon knitting, the real draw is the writing. it's going on my wishlist.

i didn't really mean for this to seem like a christmas list, but i really only wanted to list the books i actually liked, in intrests of length. but that doesn't mean you can't use this for inspiration!
love,
anna

02 October 2007

lack of inspiration

dear mum,
i'm glad that you like the cat bordhi book. i just wouldn't spend my money on it. anyway, i started knitting myself a mobius out of the yarn you brought me back from france. i'm knitting it ez style, however, because i like the look of garter stich better than the stockinette-oid cat bordhi mobius.

it's my tv watching project, since i'm knitting it straight from the skein (which is working surprisingly well). i don't really have a portable knitting project that's holding my attention. i've got my orange cable socks but they've been languishing. i'm gonna go buy some new yarn for some projects i've got planned, but i have to wait until i get paid in 2 weeks. *sigh*
love,
anna

p.s. a meme is an internet quiz-thing that gets passed around. does that make sense at all?