The Knitter’s Life List: To Do – To Know – To Explore – To Make A Review

The Knitters Life List.

The Knitter’s Life List: To Do – To Know – To Explore – To Make

Gwen W. Steege

Storey Publishing, 2011

The Knitter’s Life List is a unique knitting book.  It is not a book of patterns or a book about knitting skills or techniques.  It is a book about the craft of knitting and all that it encompasses.  It is a book of lists, articles, biographies of designers and important knitters, technique notes, and observations about knitting.  The book is divided into chapters which are based on topics and broad subject areas such as yarns, sweaters, socks, fiber etc.  In each chapter you will find articles, photos, stories, and the lists.  The book is filled with short well written articles about the history of knitting, the role of knitting in society and fun entertaining pop culture facts about yarn and knitting but it is so much more than a compilation of articles.  The lists and articles are designed to motivate and inspire you as a knitter to take your craft to the next level.  It encourages you to learn more, push your self and be brave enough to try new things.  The book is meant to be an inspirational starting point for knitters of all levels.  A beginner can get excited about knitting and learn new skills while an experienced knitter can use the lists to delve deeper into techniques and move their craft to the next level.  I can see a book like this being popular with knitting groups or with people hoping to connect to other knitters of all levels.  I also think that the lists in this book are great for people who are feeling a little unenthusiastic about knitting.  Face it we all go into a knitting slump sometimes.  This book will get you excited to try something and sometimes that is all you need to get motivated again.

The lists are into sections such as meet, discover, do/try, and learn, go, experience, extra credit and a place to create my lists.  The items on the lists vary depending on the chapter but encourage one to take the subject to a different level.  You are encouraged to learn more, try new things and think about knitting in a new way.  These lists are fun and will get you excited about your craft.  They are not designed to be a check list of things you need to do to be a master knitter.  Your creativity, curiosity, or your competitiveness can be sparked by the lists or you can get a sense of accomplishment by what you already know.  The book itself is lovely.  It is full color and chock full of beautiful photos.  It has a casual modern layout style that makes it easy to flip through or to browse as a coffee table book.  I liked the historical information, especially sections about traditional styles of knitting and the depth of information about different fibers.  The historical photos are fun to look at.  Overall I found the book to be interesting and fun to read.  I kept picking it up and reading sections and drooling over the photos.  The only things I thought it lacked as book about knitting as a culture was that it had very little about Ravelry which is such a big component of the knitting community these days.  As a librarian I have to say I loved the reading lists at the end.  It was a nice touch.  I liked the book and think you will too.  Gwen W. Steege has a love of knitting that shows in her enthusiasm and in the depth of her knowledge.  Well done.

So if you are looking to be inspired, want to move your craft to the next level or want to learn more about fiber, techniques, or the history of knitting this book would be perfect for you.  I think this book would make a great gift for a knitter of any skill level. 

To make things even better Storey publishing has generously offered to give one book away to any reader of this review.  All you need to do is leave me a comment and at the end of the month one reader will be selected to get a brand new copy of the book!  Also Storey is having a contest called the Knitter’s Life List Sweepstakes.  Check out www.storey.com for details.

Squirrel friend where you been?

Ok I should be ashamed of myself.  I feel like I should be brought up before the yarn council for dereliction of duty.  I can not believe that I haven't posted a blog post since June!  This summer has been super crazy and I have to admit that sending Nate off to college really looped me more than I thought it would.  I have been busy knitting and reading but I haven't had the heart to do much else.  Let's never speak of this again.

What have I been doing with all my free time?  Knitting and reading.  I am working steadily on my Top 100 list I swear.  I took a mid summer break to read Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy Bundle: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest which are all
awesome.  I also watched the movie in Swedish (how classy)  I also caught up on the

 Bones book series by Kathy Reich and the Dexter series including the newest book Dexter Is Delicious
(not for the faint of heart I must say but wow what a page turner)  I love the series but the books are my favorite!
I have been knitting but not like crazy.  I finished a few small projects and did a shawl
for a swap.  Right now I am avoiding starting my christmas knitting and working sporatically on the Bountiful Bohus from More Big Girl Knits in a nice blue color.  I broke my Boye Needlemaster size 7 on it and had to get a new needle.  I went with a fixed circular this time and it is working fine.  I don't know what it is about cardigans in the round that make my needles go pop.  I can't decide if it is a combo of weight and the number of stitches or both!

I promise to post more regularly.  I have some awesome projects, hot book reviews and some fun cat photos to share if you stick with me!  Here is a sneak preview:

Tasha snuggling with the Oscillope Shawl

Luna with the Oscillope Shawl

I call Luna the squirrel friend.  I heard a little girl on the bus say to her sister "Squirrel Friend you're nuts"  I thought it was super funny so now Jazzy and say it all the time!

September Scarves or do I even have enough needles?

Ok so I have a nutty idea.
I am having trouble deciding what to knit next. I knit like crazy to finish my Ravelympics but still didn’t finish my Big Ivy which is depressing. Yesterday I started a very simple eyelet lace scarf using the sari yarn I bought at the XPN music festival which I knocked out today on the bus.
Scarf knitting is super easy to start and you see progress right away. That got me thinking about scarves. I love to knit scarves at least half a scarf. I usually get bored half way through and put it down for a week, month or year. So I got this great idea to start a new scarf every day. I will try to start a new scarf every day and work on it all day then snap it, blog it, label it and put it away till the weekend. Whatever doesn’t get finished in September gets picked back up in October on the day it was started.
Thirty one scarves in two months that should stave off boredom. That should get me a lot of presents for the holidays.
To start off this experiment I will begin with something from Knitting New Scarves! On Septemeber 1 I will start my September Scarf Project by knitting Striped Illusions with my super precious Shi Bui Knits Merino Kid in teal and orange I bought with my graduation gift cart at Rosies last month!

Heres the unoffical rules
Cast on a new scarf every day
Knit it all day long
Blog about it
Put it away
Pick it up again in October
Rinse and Repeat, repeat, repeat

So this weekend I will plot a rough plan, pull out some yarn and figure out if I have enough needles for the project. Off to ravelry to queue up some scarves! Wish me luck.

Cotton Dischlothes

I used some leftover natural cotton I got from Mom to create some washcloths for gifts. The first was a basket weave stitch with a single crochet edge. The second is a trinity stitch with a crochet ruffle border. I then wrapped them around some nice rose scented body wash from Bath and Beauty Works. I really like the trinity stitch for a bath cloth. It has nice ridges to make bubbles. I want to make some for myself.

Last FOs for 2006

Here are some last minute FO's from 2006 the first is the finished purses for the girls. I made these are mini versions of the cable purse for Jazzy (3) and Amelia (9) They are lined in pink flannel and have a crochet flower pin with both. Beanie loves her purse and has made it her day to day purse. If you know Beanie and her love of purses you will know this is a huge compliment. My sis loves her purse.

The second is the Christmas Donuts! I made these for my pirate pollyanna. I put two donuts in a box with a giftcard to Dunkin. (Beloved snack place of the Hathaways) I also made a powder donut and a purple sprinkle donut for Jazzy. Oh you don't even need to ask it is RH Super Saver.

Since I got so much flak for making poor J.R. model my knitting I made the boys do it this time. Alex and Nate both love the donuts. P.S. I am loving the labels. They really appeal to my cataloging nature.

Zen and the Art of Knitting

I have been reading Zen and the Art of Knitting by Bernadette Murphy. I received a copy of the book from Nate for Christmas this year (nice son, nice boy) It is a nice book to read and thought provoking I really like the book. It has really made me think about how I really feel about knitting. One of the things she takes about how knitting is a process. I dig knitting because it appeals to my logical side. I like to count things and organize things (cataloger) and knitting lets me see the pattern in things. I also like the actual physical act of knitting and don't worry so much about the finished product. My phobia of wearing my handicrafts should be a post in and of itself. But the process of knitting now that is fun. Maybe that is why I like to make cables so much.

One other thing she talks about is the act of concentrating on the person you are knitting for when your working. I have been doing this along even when crocheting. When I make a blanket for someone I think about them, what they are like and why I care for them. I only make blankets for people that move me in some way and I like to think that they like the blanket or what I knit for them because they can sense that I worked the stitches with them on my mind.
I have been thinking about moving towards a more spiritiual centered life (not a religious life) and I see my love of knitting as a progression towards this goal.

As for the sweater vest 12 inches and counting. It has gotten to be a community project people on the bus check it out and people ask how is the vest? My friend at work's mother recently passed away. I have been thinking about her and my friend while knitting. He always wears the most elaborate and well knitted aran vests and sweater I have ever seen his mother was a fantastic knitter. I was envious of his vests and that became the basis for the vest.