Score!!

Oh yeah!  After a busy week with little knitting (Who am I kidding?  There was no knitting.), I finally scored some crafting stuff.  Seriously!

Cute crochet kit

First off, a cool crochet kit.   Isn't it neat?  There's enough yarn for one Beatle, but the book has patterns for all 4 Beatles in their early years AND patterns for the Sgt. Pepper versions (I know, right?).

Sgt. Pepper's version

Besides the kit, I got my hands on two knit books.  One is a book on children's top-down knits (check out some of the patterns over at Ravelry.com). By far, top-down is my fave way to construct a sweater.  There are some cute items (and I dare confess that I've photocopied a pattern or two in the past . . . ). The only drawback is that the photos in the book are all B&W--but that's a small drawback.

Book on top-down kids' knits

View of more patterns

The other book is a re-working of vintage knits (check out more over at Ravelry.com).  And while I might admire the patterns more so than make them, there a few accessories that caught my eye (scarves, a hat, bolero and 2 shrugs).  It'll be a neat addition to the crafting library.

Vintage Knitwear book

Circular knit vest/bolero

Cute bolero

At a dollar a pound, we made a steal!  In total my husband and I spent about $37.00 for over 25 books (including the crochet kit, 4 gardening books, half a dozen kid's books, quite a few paperbacks and over-sized hardcovers.  All the items had been donations from the local community).  Seriously, we scored big time!  And all the proceeds go to funding our local library (seeing as our provincial government has frozen current funding, local libraries need as much as they can get in the way of fund-raising.  See CBC news for more details).

Now I'm off to peruse my finds.  
Later,

Consolation

So to take my mind off the dreary weather, I started flipping through my knitting books and realized I never shared my newest acquisitions.  I bought three before the holidays from Crafters' Choice Book Club which--to my surprise--suddenly announced bankruptcy in early December (at least the Canadian division did.  To the best of my knowledge, the American division is still running although I haven't checked online).

My most favorite book is Knits Men Want by Bruce Weinstein (photos by Jared Flood whose work I've admired for a long time at his blog Brooklyn Tweed.  His patterns and photography are very beautiful and inspiring).

Knits Men Want

Hubby and I read through the book when it arrived and he tended to concur with most of the rules.  For him, most men don't really care about fashion; rather, their concern is comfort (at least in his circle of friends).  And those that do care about fashion have a different sense of style than most women.  Needless to say that most of the patterns in the book were deemed acceptable by dear hubby.

The big plus for me, however, is the multiple gauges offered for each pattern.  Wow!  I don't have to do math!  Yay!  

Since hubby doesn't "do" pullovers, I've got my eye on the simple cardigan pattern pictured below.  He did request a cardi made in a yarn that isn't itchy (I'm thinking an acrylic or acrylic-wool blend).

Men's Cardigan

Some day I'll make this.  Someday. ;)

Belated Birthday Gifts

Remember my birthday?  Well, in celebration I had ordered a couple of books to add to my modest knitting library--and they arrived a couple of days ago!

One of my gifts to myself was The Sock Knitter's Workshop.  In one word: "Wow!". 

New How-To Sock Book

What a thorough guide to knitting socks--perhaps too much info for the newbie sock knitter (in my modest opinion, Ann Budd's book Getting Started Knitting Socks is by far the best sock book for the newbie).  Now that I have a few socks under my belt, I'm ready to experiment with different heel and toe constructions.  And there's plenty to explore with 5 different cast-ons (along with variants within), 3 main heel types (with at least 4-5 variations within each type) and 7 types of toes.  Although toe-up and circular knitting are discussed, the main focus is on top-down construction. 

For me, the big pluses are the ample illustrations and the various charts to help the knitter determine the stitch count for various foot sizes AND foot shapes (the latter of which I have not seen elsewhere). 

Lots of Colour Illustrations

My other book choice was The Essential Stitch Collection.  Published by Reader's Digest, it is a basic stitch dictionary with about 300 stitches divided into knit&purl, twists, cables, lace, bobbles&leaves, stranded&intarsia and the unusual (stitches that don't really fit into one category). 

New Stitch Collection

As I have no real stitch dictionary (other than what's in my handy dandy Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book), I think this collection could be useful for altering a pattern or maybe even creating my own design (hey, it could happen).

Lots of Colour Photos

I like a few things about the book, mainly the colour illustrations and the use of charts.  There are written instructions paired with the b&w charts.  Although small, the charts should be easy enough to enlarge on a photocopier; however, the more complicated stitches ONLY have charts.  For the time being, it will serve my needs.

And now, back to my knitting . . .  :)