You need this book.

Why? Because it's a great concept and compendium.  Billed as "the ultimate yarn crawl," 60 Quick Knits from America's Yarn Shops (Sixth & Spring 2013)--really is just that. Save on gas and Metrocards; be an armchair knitter/traveler and do the crawl from the comfort of your personal knitting nook, wearing whatever you damn well please.

The patterns within--all in Cascade yarns--come from LYS all over the country. Think about it--part of being a yarn store owner involves guiding patrons towards projects within their technical comfort zones, projects that turn out well without a struggle. It takes a good knitter/designer to understand this.

So IMHO it's brilliant that the editors tapped the creative, accumulated wisdom of these knitting gurus and published sixty of their patterns. And Cascade yarns, especially 220 and 220 Superwash, are backbone yarns: high quality, wonderful colors, durable, excellent value. You can't go wrong with this book. Since the idea here is quick knits, the projects are small, but they're the kinds of things you'll make repeatedly: lovely mittens, charming children's and adults' hats, socks, scarves, shawlettes. This is basic good design that's stylish, classic, and useful.

The publisher has kindly made available one giveaway copy. If you'd like it and you live in the U.S. or Canada (sorry, no overseas mail), post a comment on this blog by midnight December 8th telling me why. I'll choose the knitter with the most interesting reason.

Snowflake Mittens, designed by Trish Mitberg of Knitting Bee, Portland, Oregon.

Cowling All Knitters...and a book giveaway!

I recently wrote a mini-article about the stress of holiday knitting, and how we knitters should think about making ourselves something, along with the procession of gifts for others. Then I went back to my holiday to-do list, hypocrite that I am.

My preferred knitted gifts these days are cowls. Done on larger needles, anywhere from size 9 to 15, they go very quickly and are a great way to use stashed yarns. Moreover I've discovered that I actually prefer wearing cowls with much of my heavy outerwear (cold is a way of life in New England!), because they don't lump up inside the jacket and create the Michelin Man look, and they can also be pulled up in the back, if they're sufficiently wide, to serve doubly, as both neck-warmer and hat. When I make a cowl for a friend, I don't feel as if I'm giving something just for the sake of giving, because I actually wear these things myself, plus I have the satisfaction of creating space in my stash for cramming in new purchases. Amen.

So, when a book about cowls crossed my desk recently, I was extremely interested to peruse the patterns, which are plentiful, and dream of future cowl projects.

As my devoted readers will recall, I am particularly fond of "60 Quick" series, published by Sixth and Spring Books. It's not just that there are enough patterns included to make all in the series very reasonable buys, but also that the patterns come from a range of experienced designers, so they're all distinctive and attractive. Moreover, since the designs in this series--whether for cowls, Baby Essentials, Quick Knits, Luxury Knits, etc.--are smallish projects, they offer useful opportunities to learn different stitches, techniques, and so forth, without intimidation. When you knit a cowl that involves beautifully complex cables, it's just not as daunting as doing an Aran sweater. I think of the cowl patterns in this particular book as small canvases that let you trial new techniques, yarns (all the featured yarns are from the Cascade Yarn Company), and stitches.

This beautiful, if unfortunately named design, gives you lots of cable practice without locking you into the months (years?) that a comparably-patterned sweater would entail, and when you're finished you've got this classy hybrid cowl-capelet that's both gorgeous and super-warm. (This is definitely on my to-do list for moi). The cover illustration, similarly offers coin stitch and applied I-cord practice, and looks like it's a lot of fun to work up.

So, not only am I going to recommend this book to you, gentle knitters, but I'm also going to offer a free copy, courtesy of the publisher, to the first reader who correctly identifies the following lines:

...I like a cowl;
I like a prophet of the soul;
And on my heart monastic aisles
Fall like sweet strains or pensive smiles:
Yet not for all his faith can see
Would I that cowléd churchman be.

To enter the contest, which will close on 6 December at midnight, please leave your answer in the comments section of this post, then make sure to check my next post for an announcement of the winner. In some past contests, the person who has won has not responded to my request for contact information, so that the publisher was unable to award the prize.  NB:   If you want the book, and your answer is correct, then please stay tuned.

NB:  We have a winner, Bonney, and a runner-up already, and it's still 6 December.  So, contest closed for the nonce.  Bonney, will you please email me via the button on my blogger.com profile with the address to which you want the book sent? I need it by tomorrow midnight (12/7), else I move on to the next runner-up.  Happy Chanukah to all.

Big, beautiful, bliss

As many of you know, the pre-holiday crunch often compels knitters to turn out gifts quickly, and this urgency is usually satisfied by chunky yarn and big needles. Serendipitously, my recent interest in unusual, non-ribbed cuffs led me to a mitten design with a basket-weave cable cuff that also happened to be knitted on size 11 needles.

I was pleased to find a pattern that worked up so quickly, and had an unconventional cuff.  Within a couple of days I'd made two pairs. Now that New England's enduring bitter cold temps, I'm happy to say that this pair, done in some stashed Lamb's Pride Bulky, is super warm and gives me an aesthetic frisson every time I consider the cuffs. More about cuffs in a future post; for now I'm following the big yarn theme, and will draw your attention to a nifty new book, Chunky Knits, compiled by Ashley Little. (Lark Crafts, 2014).

I'd been hoping to review the book before the holidays--for precisely the reasons I've mentioned above--but now that that boat has left the harbor I'll talk about why knitting fat yarn, apart from the speed, is so gratifying, and how this book gives you some great reasons to start 2015 in chunky mode.

Chunky Knits' clothing designs are really good, so you can treat yourself to some perfect winter weekend knitting that will produce wearables in a trice. The designs below--the Melegrana capelet and cap--are intricate but not overwhelmingly complex on manageably sized needles (8 and 10), and convey the same kind of rich texture more customary in finely-detailed shawls and scarves.

What's more unusual are the many patterns the book offers for home décor projects. There are designs for lampshades, an ottoman, a throw pillow, and a throw. I liked them all very much. Less appealing to me are patterns for knitted jewelry and mason jar sweaters, but those should appeal to the Etsy set. Anyway, you can order the book here if your LYS doesn't have it in stock, or you can enter a contest on this blog to win a free copy, which the publisher has generously made available. Just write a comment before midnight, Monday January 12 and let me know why you want the book. The knitter who won the contest for 60 Quick Luxury Knits was extremely pleased by the prize, made a beautiful hat from one of that book's patterns, and sent me a photo of it. I assure you, these little giveaways are real and delightful!

Tulip Lace Hat, knitted by Carol O. in northern California.

Deep freeze

Last week and the week before we were clutched by the Polar Vortex and it was totally f-ing cold.  The only open water hereabouts was in front of the house. Hence the goose party that went on for days. Like any respectable orgy, it was noisy, filthy, and crowded. Then it warmed up, the ice melted, and everyone left.

Meanwhile, chill-averse, house-bound moi was knitting away, fashioning a sock-monkey cap for grandson Max. The pattern, from the recently-reviewed 60 Quick Knits from America's Yarn Shops (Sixth & Spring, 2013), definitely had problems. (A word to the wise.) So I had to wing it in the dicey places, and everything turned out fine. If you're not an experienced knitter and are yearning to knit a sock-monkey hat for someone special, I'd suggest trying a different pattern. There are a bunch on Ravelry.

So Max will get his cap, modeled here by Ted, and maybe if the temps out there in LA get below 65F, he will actually wear it. The sizing looks to be about right for a child between six to eighteen months.

Goldengrove unleaving...

Gentle knitters,
We're back after a theoretically restorative break. It was a break, certainly. Specifically my left foot, which was decidedly unsupportive when I, blithely navigating the pavements of Portland, Maine, tripped and fractured it. "I am such a klutz," I told Casapinka. She avouched that this particular injury is known in the medical world as a "ballerina fracture," since it's a common dance-inflicted malady. So it goes....I am a ballerina in klutz clothing. I was following my inner ballerina. I could have danced all night...(NOT).

Er, I was on assignment for Interweave Knits, and had just concluded a long interview with an amazing yarn personage whom you will read about next spring in the pages of the afore-mentioned magazine. The next morning I returned to the interviewee's dyeing studio to do the photography. My foot was swollen and painful, but like the intrepid postman who braves punishing weather, I got the job done, gentle knitters! And then H and I drove three hours to University Foot and Ankle Center in Providence, RI, had the x-rays, learned the awful truth. A cast for at least six weeks.

Alfie graciously accommodates my injured foot.

Fortunately my favorite activities are sedentary:  knitting, writing, music. I began a series of personal, knitting-centric essays, collected under the rubric "Unwindings" on Lion Brand Yarn's website (this link is command central of LB's Internet presence and will take you in many interesting directions) and Facebook page. You can read numero uno here.  Another will appear fairly soon, and then another. This is going to be a monthly thing. Just like the fiction I write for Lion Brand's Pattern Journal. You can subscribe to this for free, simply by clicking the orange letters on the website that say "click here."

***

Well, enough about me. I'm happy to report that last month's book giveaway, 60 Quick Luxury Knits from Sixth and Spring Publishing, went to Carol in San Ramon, CA. She's a displaced New Englander, so we like her extra much. There will be another book review and giveaway, most probably before the end of the month. Stay tuned and participate! These bestowals are genuine, not some kind of PCH gimmick.

Also before the end of the month, H and I will beeline to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Run by the Maine Organic Farmers Association annually on the third weekend of September, it's a dream experience for knitters and fiber people. There's a Fiber Marketplace, a Fleece Tent, and a panoply of organic activities, critters (e.g. pygora goats, alpacas, angora bunnies), and demonstrations (Border Collies rule!). Plus, the food options are excellent. I shall report, natch, but hope you can go on your own.

In the meanwhile, enjoy the golden September days. Late summer into autumn--the most beautiful time of year in New England, I humbly opine.

Partial portrait: H's tomatoes, my messed-up feet partly shielded by messy knitting bag, Lola.

Vacation time...

...and time for a vacation.  I need one, my friends. My dance card for August is already filling up, and I have to carve out pieces here and there just for moi.  Here I am, living a mere ten miles from the Atlantic, and I've not yet had time to go to the beach!  How crazy is that? So, gentle knitters, I'll say farewell for a month, but not before I announce yet another interesting contest.  YOU can win a very nice book (if you live in the US of A), which I will review below, by posting a comment on this blog before August 9th at 11.59 p.m.  Just tell me why you want the book.

Since I already own the book--a review copy, thanks to Sixth and Spring, the publisher--and don't need to tell you why I want it, I'll tell you why I like it very much. First, it's all about beautiful ways to use some of Cascade's nicest yarn, Venezia, which is a merino-silk blend with a beautiful hand and drape. Second, the patterns are really excellent and all accessory-sized, so they'll not take too long to make. And third, there are sixty patterns in one book--as I am wont to say, that's a lot of bang for the buck. But that's also the appeal of much of Cascade's yarns--the yardage is excellent, the colors beautiful, and the fiber is highest quality. I love Cascade yarns without reserve. I've just finished a pair of socks in Cascade's Heritage Paints yarn, and they are breathtakingly beautiful.

Now I'll bid you happy rest of the summer, and say see you in September, when I'll announce the winner of 60 Quick Luxury Knits, and point you towards some of my newer writing projects. I'll be doing a column of personal essays about knitting and life on the Lion Brand website, and attending to my sundry other online and offline articles, fiction, etc. etc. Thanks for asking, and happy knitting, mes amis!