White Buffalo Pattern booklets

Posting these for a Ravelry discussion: these designs use White Buffalo wool – gauge 3.5 sts and 5 rows over 1″ / 2.5 cm.

“Which Ewe are You?”: a fun quiz from Clara Parkes’ new book

Ravelers (Ravelry.com) are such a wealth of information. Someone shared the link to this little quiz from Clara Parkes’ new book The Knitter’s Book of Wool.

The Quiz matches the knitter/crocheter to a wool that they would be most happy to knit/crochet.

Then, the site creates a button for your wool profile that you can download!

<———– Here’s the result of my quiz.

I must admit, this breed of sheep is new to me, so I must explore

Knitting Books of Note: Teach Yourself Visually Knitting Design

by Sharon Turner

This is another Master Pattern book with a slightly different approach. The charts for the master patterns are interspersed with text which may be good for some knitters.

The Master Patterns are written in 5 gauges (2 – 6 st / inch). There are Master Patterns for:

• scarves,
• shawls(3),
• hats (4),
• bags (2 including felting),
• socks (5 sizes: 1 heel, 2 toes, toe-up),
• mitts (lots of cuffs), hand warmers, gloves,
• vests,
• sweaters (22″ – 55″; round and V-neck; collars, turtleneck, neckbands)

There is a yarn estimate chart in the back of the book and a small section on colour theory.

What I liked:

• good section on techniques with lots of pictures
• small stitch dictionary
• design/gauge charts are spread out throughout the text which is better for some readers

The Flip Side:

• no metric
• no knitting in the round
• a little skimpy on the “choosing the right yarn” for novice knitters
• some instructions are vague e.g. Stockinette Drop Stitch “purl across, dropping yo loops as you go” might leave one without any stitches at all!
• mentions baby/child sizes allow “generous ease” but never says how much that is; no ease amounts are given for adults but an ease table is included — again, just a little unclear; do child sizes include ease and adult ones don’t???
• there’s a short rather cryptic written section on how to do the math for your own designs

Maybe borrowing this book from the library first would give you a good idea if it fits your designing style.

Knitting Books of Note: New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One by Cat Bordhi

This book explores knitting architecture as it applies to sock knitting and provides instruction for 5 dp, 2 circulars and magic loop.

These sock patterns are truly unique with names to match e.g. Spiraling Coriolis, Robin Hood’s Fireside Boots, Etta Mae’s Baby Bootikins and Clematis Vine. If you’re into socks, these patterns will provide hours of amusement and inspiration.

Both toe up and top down instructions are given as well as a variety of heel construction methods.

Sizes are given for newborn to men’s size 15. The size variations are given in tables at the back of the book and each individual pattern then uses reference letters instead of stitch numbers.

This I would definitely not recommend to the novice sock knitter. To simplify the process a little, you could rewrite the individual pattern with your individual stitch numbers plugged in. However, there are still some “cross-connections” between Master patterns and variations and some less than specific instructions. There are small sample patterns of each of the designs to knit and Cat does recommend that you knit all of them to become familiar with the designs before proceeding to the regular-sized patterns.

Overall an intriguing book with fascinating patterns but with potential frustrations.

Knitting Books of Note: No Sheep for You by Amy R. Singer

No Sheep for You by Amy R. Singer – editor of Knitty online magazine – yes it’s the one where it looks like she’s au naturel! It’s available from The Needle Arts Book Shop for $22.89 Cdn, $22.95 US. I mention this shop because Marsha White provides super customer service and usually adds a little surprise! Check out her site and see what’s little goodies she’s offering. I really like her shop!

Allergic to wool like Amy? Want to try some of the other natural or manufactured fibres — cotton, silk, hemp, linen, soy, bamboo? This book is a great resource. Amy not only describes the features of each of these non-wool yarns in detail (including easy-to-read comparison charts), but provides 20 projects to knit. The patterns range from easy knits to socks to cabled pullovers and ganseys.

There are lots of hints for working with natural fibres and oodles of tips including a whole page on matching different types of needles to a variety of yarns. I knew there was a really good reason to own more than one set of needles of a given size!

Knitting Books of Note: Cool Socks Warm Feet by Lucy Neatby

If you’re into sock knitting, you probably have already discovered Lucy Neatby. Her
Cool Socks Warm Feet: Six Exceptional Sock Patterns for Printed Yarns (Tradewinds Knitwear Designs Inc. Dartmouth, NS, Canada) is a wonderful spiral bound edition. Lucy Neatby, the sock guru with the bright red highlights in her hair, presents sock patterns for beginners and “sock goddesses”. A variety of cast-on methods, cuffs, heels (Turkish heel, garter stitch short row heel, common heel) and toes (Bosnian square garter stitch toe, garter stitch toe, common wedge toe) are given for the patterns. She even includes patterns for miniature socks. Instructions for both toe-up and toe-down socks are included. She encourages mixing and matching. There is a great technique section at the back of the book, including how to calculate long legged socks and adjusting sock sizes. Lucy also gives tips on how to work with patterned, hand-painted, space-dyed, and variegated yarns. The nice people at Needle Arts Bookshop are very friendly, provide prompt service and even sometimes include little free gifts with your order. They also have some really exciting pattern books.