The delight is in the details

I picked up more knitting books at work this week: Color Style, by Pam Allen and Ann Budd (Interweave), and The Yarn Girls' Guide to Knits for All Seasons (Potter Craft).



I'm not a huge fan of colourwork. It seems difficult and expensive and finicky, and I haven't yet embraced my inner Fair Isle. I like patterned fabrics, but patterned knits seem sort of stuffy, stodgy, and for all their colour, boring.

But if I did like colourwork, Color Style is a book I would doubtlessly buy. That sounds like a backhanded complement, but it's not really. The designs in Color Style are inventive and fresh. And there are at least four photos of each project! This book reminds me of why I like to buy knitting books every so often: writing (and designing) such complex, fully-realized patterns demands a level of expertise that most bloggers just can't muster. Granted, this complexity moves them a little out of my range as a knitter, but that's okay.

I found two patterns in this book especially inspiring--but not for their colours. I loved the necklines!

Here's the garter-stitch neckline used in the Gee's Bend Pullover:



It's simple, but unusual. I'm really into simple garter-stitch these days (my swingy garter stitch sweater is continuing swimmingly, thanks for asking!)

I also loved the keyhole detail paired with the Latvian braid in the Faux-Embroidery Yoke Sweater:



If I ever create my own sweater pattern I'll probably steal of one these details.



The Yarn Girls' Guide to Knits for All Seasons is an all-around more moderate affair. The patterns are simple, with lots of solid colours and lots of plain stockinette. It's meat and potatoes compared to Color Style's gourmet fare. But there are some cute patterns. I like this red cabled cardigan and I love it's excellent buttons:



(Click on the photo to actually see the buttons. They're worth it)

I have the most twee taste in sweaters, I know. It pains me too. Also, I'm fully aware that I'm just pretending that this blog is about crafting on the cheap and reading library books, when it's actually about cardigans and buttons.

Speaking of cardigans, I found this free crochet pattern from Elite Classic Yarns today:



Too twee? Or just twee enough? I can't decide.

Japanese Craft Books: Part 1

I have been sorely tempted by Japanese craft books, but have managed not to purchase any through supreme force of will. This effort has been aided by two things:

1. The publication of a handful of translations (e.g. the Aranzi Aronzo books and Chronicle's Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts series)
2. The realization that these projects don't have quite the same wistful je ne sais quoi in my cluttered and artless apartment as they do in the book photos.

As an abstainer, I was very happy to see that Amy Karol has discussed a number of untranslated works on her blog Angry Chicken. I felt like the happiest of voyeurs scrolling through all those lovely images. I also found my new favourite book cover:



I love the sad one on the right most of all. (The photo comes from this esty listing, where the book is available for purchase).

I've also sworn to buy Happy Book if I can find it. The bird and leaf purses will be mine!

Hanging on by a thread (or two)

What's knitting: my garter stitch swingy sweater. I love the simplicity and boldness of this design.


Two or three years ago, I decided to stop being a multi-crafter and teach myself to be good at one thing. I started with Debbie Stoller's The Happy Hooker and a case of crochet needles I found in the basement of a house I was renting. After while, I moved on to knitting. Knitted things looked better, I thought, and there were more knitters in the world.

I love knitting, for the most part. I love that I can make sweaters and cardigans in the colours and styles I want. I love that I can modify a design or create my own, even though I'm not a "fashion person." I like using my imagination to turn a ball of yarn, be it luxurious or economical, into an endless assortment of bright warm things. (I also like that I can do tall of this on the bus!)

There's a great deal that I can't control in life and knitting gives me a place to be in charge. I decide what I knit. If a project fails, all I've wasted is my time (and possibly a small amount of money). Knitting, for me, is a safe place where I can engage creatively with very little risk.

Writing doesn't feel like this. Cooking doesn't feel like this. Reading is the only activity that feels as absorbing as knitting does. And I rarely feel like reading is a waste of time, even when I don't like a book.

That said, I'm going to spend the afternoon NOT KNITTING. I'm going to dust off my little sewing machine and drag out my stash of fabric and try to make something simple. Because if there's one thing I don't like about knitting, it's that it's slow. The high I get from finishing a project does not come often when I'm knitting, especially when I'm expanding my skills with lace or sweaters.

I had a bleak day yesterday. Sometimes, being semi-employed can be a drag, and yesterday I just wanted to lie face-down on the floor for hours. So today I'm going to treat myself to several hours of playing around with fabric. Using up materials always makes me feel virtuous, and maybe I'll even get a tote bag out of it.

Thrift Score!

Recently discovered: a clean and inexpensive thrift store in Steveston (a cute neighborhood in the southeast corner of Richmond ... actually, the only part of Richmond I'd consider living in).

It's called the Hospital Thrift Store. Corner of Chatham and 2nd Avenue, open 10-3 Monday to Saturday. The clothes weren't anything special but there was a decent selection of craft supplies, some good, cheap dishes, and lots of jars for canning.

I found three balls of unlabeled yarn that I'm positive is Mission 1840 cotton (or a similar high-quality yarn). I'm not crazy about the light pink and light blue but I figure it will be good for baby gifts, since cotton is washable and won't melt on skin when exposed to flame (I think cotton just burns ... which is better, somehow?)

There was a large basket of buttons, which some volunteer has slavishly sorted and threaded. Each loop of button was priced at $0.25 - $0.50. I picked up a good amount of pewter and brass coloured metal buttons, which I'm pleased about. Metal buttons are expensive, and necessary for steampunk or military-inspired projects.



I also picked up an old Monarch gauge. It's not very useful as a needle gauge since it doesn't use millimetres, but it's pretty and engraved and I like the inch-long cut-out. It might be handy for figuring out the gauge of swatches, a process that always makes me a little nervous.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with most of this haul but I want to combine the two pink yarns and these pleasing white buttons in a project.



What do you think? Part of me wants to make a candy-striped neckwarmer, since the cotton is super-soft and not itchy at all. Or I could make a pair of fingerless mittens in dark pink, with a single pale pink stripe and buttons at the wrist. Or I could knit the pretty owl shown on the cover of The Knitted Odd Bod Bunch.

Whatever I made, it will have cost about $1.50!

I love illustration: part 3

The Knitted Odd-Bod Bunch

Donna Wilson

Cico

In her first book, UK designer and artist Donna Wilson offers patterns for 35 distinctive (and sometimes disturbing) knit creatures. Wilson's aesthetic is unique: unlike most amigurumi patterns, these designs show no hint of Japanese influence. Instead, her creatures reference the haphazard proportions of children's drawings. They're almost two-dimensional on occasion: oddly flat, more like pillows (or drawings) than soft-sculptures. I would usually regard this as a design flaw, but Wilson has taken the illustrative quality of her creatures so far that their flatness becomes intriguing. For example, Little Tig, the two-legged big-headed cat:

Wilson's silhouettes are deliberately rushed-looking, but her construction is painstaking and thoughtful. She's chosen her yarns carefully, using mohair, cotton, and wool to create subtle textures that enhance the overall design.

Most of the creatures also feature colourwork. I'm especially impressed by the colourwork in
Little Tig. By adding one strand of mohair in a slightly darker pink, Wilson has created very natural, subtly textured colouration. I’ve seem multi-coloured amigurumis before but I’ve never seen anyone create these subtle tone-on-tone patches.

Wilson also uses stitch patterns to create texture. Time-worn traditionals like cables, moss stitches, and ribbings look completely fresh on her creatures. In "Vanessa Hare", they enhance the sock-animal quality while maintaining a deft organic form.

Wilson works as a knitwear designer and her appreciation of knitting’s unique qualities is evident in these patterns. I've been leery of knitted amigurumi in the past because it seemed more difficult than crochet, and because the shaping tends to look ugly. Wilson's designs have opened my eyes to the possibilities of knitted soft sculpture.

That said--as much as I like these designs, I have a hard time imagining myself buying a $16 ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze to achieve the perfect wonky cat. But they seem like a great way to use up ends of skeins and thrift-store finds!

I love illustrations: part 2

Style
Kate Spade
Simon & Schuster



Consisting of lists and a lot of free-floating sentences, this book avoids offering any lengthy or meaningful statements about style. Kate Spade likes pretty clothes and bright colours. That is all.

But the illustrations are pretty!


Honestly, Style should have been published as a stationary set. It would be wonderful.

I love illustrations: part 1

Learn to Sew
Alison Reid
Sterling Publishing, 2008



This slim title introduces the basics of sewing and offers 15 simple projects. The selection isn't groundbreaking--a tote bag, a scarf, an apron, etc--but each project contains some thoughtful detail. Reid uses embroidery, embellishment, and contrasting fabrics to create whimsical, modern aesthetic that's very pleasing if not completely unique.



photo: John Heseltine, from Learn to Sew

But what really sets this book apart is its design. Learn to Sew is a pleasure to look at. The generous photos, attractive text layouts, and delightful hand-drawn diagrams show a Japanese influence, and I'm very happy to see that Western publishers have picked up on this trend. I've seen a few titles with this type of layout, but they've almost uniformly been soft-sculpture or amigurumi books. It's great to see this type of design move further into the mainstream.


illustration by Alison Reid, from Learn to Sew

If you really want to learn to sew, you might be better served by one of Vogue's hefty sewing manuals. But if your creativity is stirred by looking at craft books, consider picking up this pretty little title as well.