Again, I have to plug these books and the endless fun I'm having with them. If you like free-form adventures in lace, and have the fortitude to take lace designs and work them into your own projects, you'll have a great time with the three. Content does vary a bit among them. Each volume of the series "The Knitted Patterns of Christine Duchrow" edited by J & K Kliot is available separately from Lacis. Each compiles several German language pattern booklets published in the early 1900s by Duchrow. These 8.5" x 11" facsimile editions are very readable, with the graphs being especially big, but there are a few pages where image quality is a bit muddy (no big deal though).

• Volume I: 128 pages. Combo of wide and narrow strip patterns (borders and insertions), plus collars and jabots, small and medium size doilies (square, round, and oval), tablecloths, some medallions possibly suitable for a pieced tablecloth or bedspread, camisole tops, lace fingerless gloves and some baby bonnets. These patterns are highly geometric featuring lots of triangles, diamonds and squares rather than floral or figural motifs. While directions for the lace patterning are charted and accessible, instructions to use the patterns to make the gloves and baby hat are in German, and are quite cursory. The pattern on the cover is not in this book, it's from V.II.

• Volume II:96 pages. Similar to V1, more wide and elaborate borders and insertions, some with spots to knit in knot style stitches or include beads to add texture, some doilies, a tea warmer, an octagonal lace box (I'm dying to make this up), several large tea cloths/table cloths, some camisole bands. Again, lots of geometrics, I'd rate this book as being slightly more complex to knit than V.I. The pattern on the cover is included in this book. At the end is a one-page modern English redaction of one of the smaller doily patterns (also charted), which might be of use to those who are having problems with the original notation and want to see how it compares to contemporary instructions.

• Volume III: 144 pages. More. Lots more. The emphasis of this book is a little different than the other two. It's mostly on circular and oval cloths and doilies ranging in size from coasters to full table spreads, although there's a goodly sprinkling of strip edgings and insertions, too. Again, the aesthetic is geometric, but looser than the other two books, with stars and petaled flower forms common in the oval and round pieces. A couple of the doilies rival the Kinzel ones in detail. If anyone is looking for a huge graph for a knitted lace altar cloth, there's one in here, along with a knit petticoat and a kids' pullover/hat/gloves/gaiters set (not graphed, with cursory instructions in German). Again, these patterns are a bit more complex than V.I and V.II, but aren't beyond most dedicated modern lace knitters. The pattern on the cover is in this book. There's a lagniappe at the end of this volume - five pages of hand-drawn patterns by Gertrud Wywod, a contemporary of Duchrow's. These are very striking - extremely floral rather than geometric. There is no symbol key for them, but I've made some progress translating the hand-notation to modern graphs for a couple. However I haven't worked my way through a successful test-knit of any of the Wywod patterns yet. When I get one tamed, I'll post my redaction here.

I have run into a couple of challenges knitting from these books. First, not everything is on the graph. For example, edging patterns with ragged left edges (right edge straight, left edge dagged) don't clearly show that on "uphill segments" where the piece is increasing in diameter the knitter should work an increase into the first stitch on the wrong side row; and on "downhill rows" where the edging is narrowing, the first stitch on the wrong side row should be a k2tog. There are also a couple of symbols used on one or two charts that aren't in the symbol glossary, or are problematic. And the most infuriating thing of all is that a purl stitch is represented by a lower case letter l, and a yarn over is represented by the number 1, both of which can be difficult to distinguish from each other in the older style German blackletter font used in the charts.

Still, for all of the challenge of working from books I can't read, puzzling out notation system that's new to me, to make items that I'm noodling out on the fly, I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

Technorati : knitting

Several small developments on this end. First, I'm up to the final corner on my gray/brown shawl. One more night's knitting should put it to bed. Then it gets added to the ever growing to-be-blocked pile. Second, I've decided I should take personal steps to decrease the "overweight, middle-aged women who knit" demographic. Since I can't do much about the passage of time nor do I have any intention of abandoning my hobbies, I have embarked on an exercise program. I won't speak about it again until it produces some sort of result. Third, the bathroom renovation is now in its final step - painting. I've spackled, sanded, and washed down the walls. I've cut in the corners with primer, and am about to roll the walls and ceilings with that base coat. After that comes white ceiling paint, plus a white tinged with green for the upper parts of the walls above the railroad tile. Pix when I'm done.

For the meat of this entry, last week the New York Times announced that it was throwing part of its archive open for free access. People who have registered with the site (a painless, no cost, and non-spam-generating process) can view most articles prior to 1928 or so, plus a subset of articles after that point without paying. Needless to say, I took advantage of the opportunity to see what early knitting-related material might be there.

The New York Times was never noted for frivolity and never ran a crafts or continuing women's interest column that published needlework interest items, therefore it's not surprising that I found mostly business- and war-related knitting articles. I found quite a bit of interest to textile historians - accounts of mills opening, burning, and closing down (all very common); reports on inventors or new processes; documentation of poor working conditions and worker exploitation. I did find some fashion commentary for both home and personal wear; but more on war knitting, describing materials distribution, yarn and needle shortages, yarn rationing (and the resulting protests), and famous people knitting for the cause. Amid all of this were some scattered patterns and knitting trivia.

Here are some of the most notable. Remember though that these are all written in the vernacular of their times. Few are ready-to-knit in the modern sense, but experienced knitters with a bit of perseverance should be able to make sense of most of them - especially the how to knit socks for soldiers piece from 1914. All are in PDF - remember you need to sign up with the NYT website to view these:

A human interest piece from 1908- warning of the dangers of knitting on trains and buses. Amusingly enough, I've seen this very same story repeated as a gentle caution against knitting on planes. Perhaps this is the ur-source of an Urban Legend.

Patterns from 1883 - includes knit over gloves intended to be worn over kid leather gloves for extra warmth that uses #16 needles (in between a modern US #00-#000 or 1.75 and 1.5mm); a simple lacy shawl knit on #14 (modern US #0, metric 2mm); and baby booties (also on #16s); and a sock using fine wool that looks like it starts mid-pattern - this last one may in fact be directions only for the heel. I'd need to experiment to confirm.

Fancy ornamented knitting accessories are nothing new. Silver plated and brass straights with fancy charms or jeweled button ends were offered for sale in 1917.

For Civil War period re-enactors and historical needlework buffs - a pattern for Soldiers' Mittens with a separate forefinger from 1861 (aka shooters' mittens). From the number of stitches cast on I suspect these can be worked from sport weight yarn today.

Again everything old is new again - carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of writing, sewing and knitting -described in 1882.

How to Knit Socks for Soldiers, 1914. Mrs. De Lancey Nicoll presents comprehensive prose instructions on sock knitting in excellent detail because "The trouble with American Women is that so few of them how know to knit socks. Practically only the foreign-born women know how." Surprising because today we think that everyone in the past knew these skills. Excellent beginners instruction in sock knitting (and in period terminology), these socks are standard 5-needle top-down socks with a drawstring toe, calf shaping, and a gusseted heel, worked on size #14 needles (US #0 or 2mm). They start at 80 stitches above the calf, but narrow down to 60 at the ankle, making them dead on for modern fingering weight yarn and a fit close to contemporary socks. Plan on at least 200g of sock yarn to make a pair of these. Probably a bit more.

War work, this time from 1917. The illustrious Mrs. Leeds offers up patterns for knitted sleeping socks (#12 needles, around modern #2 or 3mm, but the 84 stitches around make me want to work this pair on #000s or 1.5mm). Also two crocheted scarves - note that worsted is not a yarn weight descriptor for these, instead it specifies a twisted multi-plied long fiber staple yarn of high quality. I'd use a light fingering weight or 3-ply baby yarn. Directions also for an abdominal band, and two knitted helmets.

Official Red Cross patterns for war knitting, also from 1917. Again Mrs. Leeds - the knitting and crochet instructor for the Atlantic City Red Cross - is mentioned. This collection includes wristlets, a trench cap, knee caps, a sleeveless jacket (pullover vest); a helmet, muffler, and jacket. There's also a bath mitt, eye bandage, and crocheted hospital stockings.

1917 war knitting again - a plea for knitting to comfort sailors. This includes cursory directions for sleeveless jackets (vests), wristlets and mufflers. These three garments were considered a set. The article points out that each battleship requires 500 sets of these garments and each submarine, 20. This article, also from 1917 also mentions the Navy sets, and offers Red Cross directions for an abdominal band.

From 1915, the most curious piece of war knitting I've ever seen. Invented by a French doctor, the "Multipurpose Garment" that appears to be a loosely knitted body-wide strip with a head hole. The idea is that it can be used or worn in several ways: flat as a comforter; or with the sides laced up in various manners, making the thing into the equivalent of a sleeveless vest, an upper body cropped sweater, or swathed around as an odd looking combo abdominal band/balaclava. This may be worth knitting up just to see what it looks like.

Embedded in this 1910 women's column is a cursory description of a crocheted afghan - long strips of plain crochet, joined with openwork.

From 1911 - cursory directions for a striped knit afghan, in a women's interest column that also warns about the dangers of diet pills.

And finally a cast-on hint from 1907 - use bigger needles when you cast-on.

I hope someone finds these bits entertaining and useful. If you attempt to knit from any of them, I'd love to hear about the result.

Technorati : knitting

My self-awarded belated birthday present has arrived! I ordered three specialty books on lace knitting, only one of which is in English. They're not out of print, but I don't have a separate blog category for current works, so they've ended up under that classification:

My first present to me is The Knitted Lace Patterns of Christine Duchrow, Vol. III, edited by Jules and Kaethe Kliot. It's 144 pages in German, with an English foreword and symbol glossary. The patterns are presented in the same graphed format as the Volume I book I am knitting from now. This collection is a bit larger, and is mostly home-decorative items (doilies, tablecloths, tea cloths, and a smattering of counterpanes), although a few caps, stoles, collars, jabots, and a blouse are presented, too. These 100+ patterns are also quite a bit more complex than the ones in Vol. I. I'm especially interested in the large oval shaped doilies, and in a a curious appendix of hand-drawn charts, in another somewhat related notation set, but unaccompanied by as-knit photos. Plus there's one unusual geometric insertion strip (p 86) and a photo of a lace edging (p.2 but no graph or English pattern provided), both of which may end up on my current very geometric stole. I'm very pleased with this one. The hand-drawn appendix is an appreciated lagniappe, but it is haunting me. I'm too much of a Pandora not to want to discover how those charts knit up.

Old World Treasures is 35-page leaflet in English, presenting patterns entirely in prose notation in a relatively large 12-point font (fellow bifocal victims, take heed!). The 21 patterns mostly for small motifs knit in the round (in the 40-75 row range), useful for doilies, insertions, cap backs, and the like. Three of the patterns are much larger, with one going up to just over 200 rows, and another appearing to be composed of eight smaller doilies stitched onto a larger separately made complementary center. There are motifs with 4, 6, and 8 sided symmetry. Stitch counts at the end of significant rows are given, which is a help. I'm not a big fan of prose directions, so my first step in working from this book would be to graph up anything I knit from this leaflet. Still, I am sorely tempted to attempt a "flower garden" sampler throw based on the centers of the various motifs presented. To do that I'd select either the 6-side or 8-side symmetry patterns and work them all up to the same row, then stitch them together with some plain (or simple leaf-bearing) motifs to complement their mixed complexity. There's ample food for thought here.

The last book is Knitted Lace (Kunst-Stricken), also edited by Jules and Kaethe Kliot - a 71-page collection of patterns by Marie Niedner. This is another collection of lacy knitting patterns of German origin, and using another early charting system unique to this particular original author. The designs presented are considerably less complex than the Duchrow ones, and includes a fair number of less-lacy textures. The charts are relatively small, and are not always near the text and illustrations they accompany. The collection includes edgings and insertions (many of which are closely related to patterns in the Walker treasuries), plus a strip sampler collection, several long-armed lace fingerless mittens, a couple of counterpanes, the expected flock of doilies and table spreads, plus bonnets, a couple of lace stoles and lace/beaded drawstring purses, and a couple of blouses/jackets - one of which may be intended for a baby or toddler. One quick idea gleaned from this book is an interesting way to finish out scallop shell motif counterpanes using half-motifs to eke out the left and right edges. While there are some interesting pieces here, this book is of as immediate inspiration as are the other two. Had I been able to browse the contents prior to purchase, I might have opted for the second Duchrow volume, or two more of the Penning-edited leaflets in its place. Still, I am not disappointed, and will be working something from this book. Someday.

On an entirely different front - I've mailed off my No Sheep Swap package. I included a ball of one of my favorite non-wool blends, a couple of beaded stitch markers of personal significance, and a vintage pattern magazine from my collection. I hope the package gets where it is going because my downstream swap partner never wrote back to confirm her address or preferences.

Technorati : knitting

Out web-walking again, I've stumbled across a treasure trove of books on spinning, weaving, and other textile arts. It includes historical and recent works on lacemaking, embroidery, tatting, knitting, crochet and some other less practiced crafts, as well as ethnographic material, periodicals, and academic papers. I'm sure I'm the last to find out about it, but I share the reference all the same.

This textile-related archive is maintained by the University of Arizona. Its collections are available on-line, with the individual works so distributed either aged out of copyright, or presented with the authors' permission. There are thousands of items - mostly geared to industry and manufacture, but with a healthy smattering of works detailing hand production. Scans are available as PDFs, with the larger books broken out into smaller segments of under 15MB. Not all are in English.

Among the works I found that are of greatest interest to me in specific are:

Whiting, Olive. Khaki Knitting Book, Allies Special Aid, 1917, 58 pages. PDF

This compendium of knitting patterns presents sweaters, wristlets, socks, scarves, mittens, hats, caps, and baby clothes intended in part for troops overseas during WWI, and for the comfort of refugee families displaced by the war. Patterns for knitting and crochet are both included. The socks shown mostly knit top-down, some have a gradually decreased instead of grafted toe. Some of the socks are worked on two needles and seamed. One pair in particular (marked as a pattern from the American Red Cross, p. 13) seems to include a written description of a grafted toe, but it does not name the technique. Directions are a bit more detailed than is usual for pre 1940 knitting booklets. Fewer than a quarter of the patterns are illustrated with finished item photos. Aside from a list of abbreviations in the front, there are no how-to or technique illustrations.

Nicoll, Maud Churchill. Knitting and Sewing. How to Make Seventy Useful Articles for Men in the Army and Navy, George H. Doran Company, New York, 1918, 209 pages. PDF

This book is a bit more detailed than the previous one. It also contains a rundown of standard troop knitting patterns - hats, mufflers, balaclavas (called helmets), mittens, socks and the like. Every project is illustrated either with a photo or a line drawing of the finished product. Instructions are written out in a fuller format than in the Khaki Knitting Book. It also has some valuable bits of instruction including a list of yarn substitutions, plus two full size color plates showing the wools used, identified by name; a small stitch dictionary section,

Of special note are some unusual mittens (including a mitten with truncated thumbs and index fingers - p.68), half-mittens - p. 77, "doddies" or mittens with an open thumb, p. 80, and double heavy mittens intended for seamen or mine sweepers hauling cables - p. 94). The grafting method of closing up sock toes is clearly described AND illustrated, but it is called "Swiss darning" (p.131). I've heard that term used for duplicate stitch embroidery on knitting, especially when the decorative stitches are sewn in rows mimicking actual knitting, rather than being stitched vertically, but I have never before seen it applied to actual grafting. The entire section on socks and stockings is particularly clear and useful. There are even a couple of crocheted and knit mens' ties in the sewing section.

Finally, the sewing section (about a quarter of the book) might be useful to people doing historical costuming or regimental re-creators who are looking to augment their kit. The one drawback is that most of the sewing patterns are predicated on Butterick printed patterns, and the schematics are not provided in the book. Among the offerings are money belts, a chamois leather body protector and waistcoat, various types of shirts and undergarments, pajamas made from heavy blanket fabric, and a book bag (like a messenger's bag).

Egenolf, Christian. Modelbuch aller art Nehewercks un Strickens, George Gilbers, 1880, 75 pages. Note: Reprint of 1527 book. PDF

Ostaus, Giovanni. La Vera Perfezione del Disegno [True Perfection in Design], 1561, 92 pages. Note: 1909 facsimile. PDF

These are two modelbooks of the 1500s. There are several others in the collection, but they are mostly books of needle lace designs. Ostaus also offers up mostly patterns for the various forms of needle lace, plus some patterns that can be adapted to free-hand (as opposed to counted) embroidery, plus a large section of allegorical plates to inspire stitched medallions, slips, and cabinets. One thing I've always liked are some of his negative/positive patterns. These are designs that if laid out on a strip of thin leather or paper and cut can be separated longitudinally into two identical pieces. There are several of these scattered around the middle of the book.

Starting around page 73 or so there is a section of graphed patterns, a number of which landed in my New Carolingian Modelbook collection.

The Egenolf book also is mostly line drawing suitable for freehand embroidery. Some are pretty cluttered, but some are very graceful. The oak border on p. 32 has always been one of my favorites. There's one plate with a counted pattern, on p. 72.

---. Priscilla Cotton Knitting Book, Priscilla Publishing Co., 51 pages. PDF1, PDF2, PDF3, PDF4, PDF5, PDF6.

This books is obviously a seminal source behind many of today's reference books on knitting technique and patterns. Notation is sparse and "antique" with n (narrow) being used for k2tog, and o for yarn over, and other oddities. There's a fair bit of circular doily knitting, but it is of the knit radially and seamed variety seen also in Abbey's Knitting Lace. In fact many of the doilies appearing in Abbey appear to have been adapted directly from this work. You'll also recognize many Walker treasury edging patterns in these pages.

In addition to the stitch texture and lacy knitting sections, there's a bit on "cameo knitting" which appears to be another name for stranding (in PDF2). The section on filet knitting (in PDF3) is relatively extensive, and clearly shows both the strengths and weaknesses of this rarely described style.

---. Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No. 2, Priscilla Publishing Co., 52 pages. PDF1, PDF2, PDF3, PDF4, PDF5, PDF6, PDF7, PDF8.

This has got to be the single most complete and eye-popping source I've ever seen on Irish crochet. Not only does this contain an amazing amount of eye candy, it also gives directions on how to create it, offering up pattern descriptions for the individual motifs, the joining brides and grounds, and the working method of fastening the motifs to a temporary backing while the grounds are being worked.

---. Egyptisch Vlechtwerk [Sprang], Holkema & Warendorf, 36 pages.PDF1, PDF2

As an example of the depth of the collection, here's a work on Sprang, one of the lesser known fiber manipulation crafts sometimes mistaken for early knitting. It is in Dutch and appears to be from before WWI, but it is illustrated with photos of finished pieces and works in progress.

These are just a small sample of the hundreds of works available at the University's website. Again, most are on the industrial aspects of the textile arts, from fiber acquisition (including sericulture and sheep raising) through spinning, and weaving, but a goodly number are of direct interest to hand-crafters. Topic lists exist for knitting, crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, lace, tatting, and a multitude of other subjects. Support this valuable resource by visiting and using it. I know I'll be combing through here for years...

Technorati : crochet, embroidery, knitting, lace

Back to a series started long ago, I present more summaries of out of print knitting-related books. But instead of exhuming these from my local library system, I found the full text of these works on-line via a Google Book Search.

Directions for Knitting Socks and Stockings. Revised, Enlarged and Specially Adapted for use in Elementary Schools, by Mrs. Lewis, printed in London in 1883 is a pamphlet written in response to a bit of British educational legislation, mandating that all girls be required to learn to knit. Aside from pedagogical pedantry in service of this goal, it does provide some interesting bits, although there are no illustrations. Pages 12-14 contain a comprehensive "sock recipe" chart, listing numerical sizes and the numbers of stitches to be cast on, and the number of rows or stitches that compose other sock and stocking features (rib depth, length to heel, heel stitches, length of foot, etc.). This chart however does not present gauge or finished measurements. From the measurements however, it's pretty clear that gauge is quite small by modern standards, with the smallest boy's sock size starting off on a 49 stitch circumference, and the largest man's sock size starting off with a 121 stitch cuff.

Prose directions to accompany the charts begin on page 15. They describe socks with Dutch style heels. I would not recommend this booklet for a modern knitter starting off on his or her first pair of socks because the description style used in the directions is obtuse by today's standards, although for the time - the instructions are pretty clear. But if you have done a Dutch heel before and are familiar with it's components and features, you will be able to follow along.

The leaflet goes on to present directions for Muffatees with Thumbs (page 24) - fingerless mittens, but knit flat rather than in the round, and are worked sideways rather than parallel to the bottom edge of the cuff and seamed up the center of the palm. Wrist ribbing is constructed from knit/purl welting. This pattern is a little bit more accessible, although the description of picking up and knitting the thumb is a bit of a stretch. (I'm thinking of quickly trying this pattern out and posting the redaction here if anyone is interested). There's also a beginner's scarf knit in the flat, featuring a simple fagoting detail running its length. The booklet finishes with a description of various historical yarns. Names and in-skein weights are given, but aside from an estimate that a certain weight should be ample to produce a pair of socks - no yardage is described.

The Lady's Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting and Crochet Work, by Mrs. Gaugain, London, 1847 is one of those Ur books that informed later generations of stitch pattern reference works. I've seen it mentioned in bibliographies, and was excited to find it on Google. Sadly, I was very disappointed. Although it is listed as containing over 220 pages, the scan cuts off around page 70 or so, and of the initial 70, quite a few are skewed, truncated, or flat out missing. None of the netting or crochet sections are included in the on-line version. Given the difficult notation and lack of illustrations, I'd need more patience and perseverance than I have to spare tonight to make much headway with the contents.

The Young Ladies' Journal Complete Guide to the Work-Table: Containing Instruction for Berlin Work, Crochet, Drawn-Thread Work, Embroidery, Knitting, Knotting or Macrame, Lace, Netting, Poonah Painting and Tatting, London 1885. This one is a bit more promising, more along the lines of Weldons Encyclopedia volumes or the illustrated needlework sections of Godey's Ladies' Book. The crochet section includes some nicely done illustrations of basic techniques, including a basket pattern I've not seen before (p. 12); and excellent illustrated beginners' guides to Guipre style darned netting. The knitting section is relatively advanced, with descriptions of gauge and its importance. There are a few texture patterns shown - nothing that hasn't made its way to modern sources; plus counterpane edgings and motifs, stockings, knee-caps, baby shirts and other items. On page 52 theres an interesting shawl, knit using two weights of yarn to produce a honeycomb line effect with lacy infilling. There's also an unusual welted insertion pattern similar to the pattern shown on the cover of Lewis Knitting Counterpanes, except that in this case there's no bundling of stitches using wraps ( p. 61).

I also liked the point lace (needle lace) section. The first style shown would be familiar to most people today through the Battenberg lace style, it is rarely illustrated in contemporary works on stitching and needle lace. This book shows various infilling needle lace patterns for use inside of the outlines formed by the loops of purchased woven tape. Other forms of point lace are also shown,

Poonah painting apears to be some sort of stencil work done with enamels and varnishes, applied to both hard surfaces and textiles. I have to admit I wasn't that interested. More interesting was the macrame and tatting section. This is macrame as in fancy finework fringes - not heavy cording tied into owls or plant hangers. I have used some of the simpler style fringe tying patterns on scarves and knit blankets. They add another layer of complexity to the designs, and look much more finished than do fringes attached and left otherwise untied.

The book finishes up with brief sections on drawn and withdrawn thread embroidery styles and on some of the fancier forms of knotted netting.

Technorati : knitting

From the "This too shall pass" department, I announce the end of the work project that ate my life.  The final submission was yesterday.  I am now left with a horrific clutter in my office, several thousand megs of files that need to be classified and archived, and the need to make up for eight weeks of sleep deficit.  But all that aside, I also can now get back to String and wiseNeedle. 

I've processed in the backlog of posted yarn reviews on wiseNeedle, and am about to start tackling the questions inbox.  Since so many questions are duplicates of ones already answered at the site, there will be lots of "Did you look here?" notes.  If you've posted a question since around mid-January and you haven't heard from me, apologies.  I am whittling away at the stack...

In the mean time, courtesy of my long-time stitch pal Kathryn, I can post another review of an out of print Knitting Book that Time Forgot^TM.

ODHAM'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF KNITTING

We've all heard of James Norbury from his other knitting books.  The most notable one is his Traditional Knitting Pattens from Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Italy, and other European Countries.   That's the one that's been widely reprinted by Dover Books.  I mentioned it in another round-up of older knitting books two years ago.   In January Kathryn sent me a copy of another of his products - Odham's Encyclopaedia of Knitting,  written in concert with Margaret Agutter.  My copy is missing its title page, but searches in used book store inventories turn up 1955 to 1959 as the probable date of publication for my edition.  Oldham's  is copiously illustrated with line drawings, sketches and a few black and white photos of finished garments.  Based on the style of of the little thumbnail cartoons and some of the on-the-needle drawings of knitting in progress, I suspect that one of the many illustrators on this project also worked on the Mary Thomas books.   

The book starts with a section on knitting history - nicely done and less folkloric than most contemporary works, although not entirely without hyperbole.  19th and early 20th century knitting is outlined, with references to many works the authors considered seminal in developing modern knitting technique - books and pamphlets I am now hungry to read.  The meat of the book is somewhat choppily arranged.  The first 70 some odd pages covers basic techniques, and is arranged alphabetically under broad subject areas.  The instructive tone is very British-centric.  For example, Continental style is mentioned as an aberant variation of "normal knitting," with the caution that it is inferior for maintaining even gauge.   Grafting is described both for stockinette and K1, P1 ribbing (done in two passes on each side of the work rather than as a linear row).  You have to look hard for it though, as the heading that starts the grafting section seems to be missing.  As in all non-North American publications of its time, the name "Kitchener" is not associated with that technique.  Crochet stitches are shown in this section, too.

The next section deals with fabrics and patterns, and covers some of knitting's basic styles.  It commingles them with texture pattern family descriptions (including directions for some of them), offered up as separate mini-articles.  Therefore you'll find small bits on  Aran (it's resemblance to Austrian knitting is noted); Argyle; bead knitting; Bohus; Faroe; Florentine/Jacquard (we'd call it Intarsia); Scandinavian styles; Shetland; and Tyrolean knitting  all mixed together with general descriptions of the families of cable stitches, feather and fan stitches, leaf stitches, bobbles, etc.  Instructions for samples of the various stitch families are presented mostly in prose, although graphs are used to show colorwork and motif placement. 

Lace knitting is next.  While the section does go into several styles, it looks almost like it was written by committee.  There are at least four different illustration styles used, some being so representational as to be almost useless to the knitter.  Most lace directions are given in prose, with a limited number at the end of the chapter being done in charts with symbols unique to this book.   It's difficult to tell from the bulk of the patterns exactly what they will look like,  but the majority are covered in much better clarity in recently published lace books.  The exception is the group of "Viennese Lace"  texture patterns.  Eventually I'll explore these further.

Norbury/Agutter go on to describe the design of classic knitted garment shapes.   There are sections on Cardigans and jerseys Yarns employed range from three-ply to DK, and sizes/styles are 1950s tight.  While sizes are small, there's a fair amount on darts and tailored shaping here that might be of use to people trying to do retro design today.  Of more immediate use are sections on gloves, socks, berets and tams, and baby clothes.  Directions for a single basic  garment are given in prose.   

The final part of the book is a compendium of garment patterns, again all in prose and to 50's size and fit.  Patterns are provided for the items shown in the black and white photos.  Gauges are small by modern standards, with most items knit from fingering weight.  But there are several cardigans and pullovers in DK weight, plus a couple in doubled DK weight (3.5spi, the equivalent of  what one would expect from a modern bulky weight yarn.)

Like many of these  older knitting compendiums, there's a strong ideological bent , a smattering of fashionable garments to keep one interested , and enough detail to pass itself off as a general purpose handbook.  But books like this weren't  aimed at people with absolutely no knitting experience.  The level of detail they provide is insufficient for a beginners' guide.  Rather they were shelf references.  Places an intermediate knitter could go to broaden a skill set, or brush up on a forgotten technique.  Finishing for example is given very short shrift.  Blocking is explained, but how one goes about accomplishing the "sew up" command at the end of each pattern is never quite elucidated.

Are modern books better?  Yes and no.  Some are, both as shelf references and as beginners' guides.  Some are shorthand cribs on just a few basic concepts, quick to master and  trendy enough to look dated after only a year or two.  Others  do contain a fair bit of info, but like this particular book, aren't organized in a way that  works as a reference or as a skills guide. 

Would I recommend buying this book used?  While it's certainly worth the time to look through on library loan, unless you're a needlework history book buff (like me),  I'd give it a pass.  For me though it is valuable, partly for its interesting history of (mostly British) knitting  before WWII, and for its mystery lace chapter.  So thank you Kathryn!  Although you were right that this book isn't for everyone, it is a worthy and appreciated addition to my  library.

Thank you for all the get-well wishes. I'm still flu-laden, and now joined with two sick kiddies at home, I am at least clear headed enough to sit vertical, type and knit. I don't know where this particular bug came from, but it appears to take 10 days to run its course. An eternity of delight...

For the Love of Knitting

Despite some huge budget problems, my local library is still getting a trickle of new books. Patrolling the new book shelves, I found For the Love of Knitting: A celebration of the Knitter's Art, edited by Kari Cornell (Stillwater,Minnesota: Voyageur Press, 2004).



This one is a knitting coffee table book. Big format, copious, colorful illustrations, lots of "name appeal," but little content. It's a collection of essays by the likes of Zimmerman, , Falick, Swansen, Klass, and other knitting writers. About a third (including the Zimmerman, and Klass pieces) have appeared before in magazines, newspapers, and even in other knitting inspiration books like Knitting Lessons, Knitting Sutra, and KnitLit. I was surprised to see so much material mined from recent sources and reprinted in a book of this type.

While this book is certainly pretty, and the essays are interesting, no one is going to learn anything new from this book. There are no projects. There are no descriptions of techniques. The majority of the pictures are of knitting booklets from before 1960, shots of yarn baskets, archive photos of knitting and knitters, and pictures of knitting in art. Only a couple of the essays have pictures of immediate relevance in them. In terms of garment inspiration, there are a couple of close-ups of some of Solveig Hisdal's stranded work (taken out of context because the whole garment isn't shown); plus several shots of "art knitting" - a couple of wearables, plus various soft and hard installations incorporating knitted fabrics. Very little for a book so large and so copiously illustrated.

I also found the editorial tone of the thing got increasingly irritating. An example the caption on a Russian postcard, found on page 50. "Knitting Companion: In this quaint Russian postcard, a young woman keeps one eye on her knitting and another on her cat, who looks about ready to pounce on the next free stand of yarn." I can see the picture. there's no reason to describe it in the caption. I want to know more about the postcard. Were such things common? When was it made? The style in the picture makes me think it might be from the 1920s. A Russian postcard from the 1920s? There has to be a story there, but there is no further attribution or sourcing for the postcard. Nothing whatsoever beyond showing the picture and then describing it overly cutely.

So if a sample course of essays describing knitting (as opposed to knitting technique), illustrated with patronizingly described eye candy appeals to you, you'll probably enjoy this rather formulaic book. If nothing else, you may find a first taste of someone's writing here that would lead you on to her or his other works.

Final verdict: Save yourself the $30.00 cover price. Borrow this one from the library.

A minor setback on the Rogue today. The needle got pulled out of the pocket stitches, probably during an energetic pillow fight last night. No great harm done and I can't apportion blame as I was a participant, but it was more than judicious picking up with a crochet hook could fix. I ended up raveling back a couple of inches to even everything out. I'm now at exactly the same place I was the day before yesterday. So apologies if you came looking for progress. There ain't none.

Instead I offer up yet another book review of an older off-the-library-shelf book.

Knitting Stitches and Patterns

This book was written by Diana Biggs, copyright 1972, and published by Octopus in London. Biggs presents a basic knitting course, couched entirely in garment patterns. Her directions are clear and well written, and the book has lots of color photographs. After a knitting skill overview section, she shows the obligatory beginners scarf and other intro patterns, but quickly plunges into shaped garments, starting with a sleeveless vest. Fit is tight by today's standards, and armholes are cut high, but they are shaped armholes for the most part, not dropped shoulder pieces.

If you want to know what people were REALLY wearing circa 1968-1972, this is a pretty good source. It's not the most fashion forward representative of its era, but the designs are the sort of thing I remember both my mother knitting, and everybody wearing.

The later chapters include more detailed exploration of traditional styles, with simple Arans, yoke-style Fair Isles, and ganseys. There are also lots of relatively plain but well executed raglans, vee-neck striped pullovers, and short sleeved lacy tops. There are a few very classic looking mens sweaters in the mix.

The accessories and kids garments hold up even better than the mens pieces (mostly because the fit of the adult sleeves is too high). All of the kids garments could be knit and worn today. There are a couple of quite charming kid-size ganseys, plus jumper/pinafore style sleeveless dresses, meant to be worn over a blouse, or in a summer cotton - alone (jumpers if you are in the US, pinafores if you are in the UK). There's even a side trip into knitting with beads; and a side trip into lace knitting, with patterns for a square and a round lace doily. Other features include some socks, home decor items, and some toys including a knit Gollywog doll that may or may not straddle the cultural line between "quaint" and "in questionable taste," depending on your own background.

One final useful feature - in the back of the book is a chart offering up yarn substitution suggestions for knitters in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. While? not all the yarns in the book are included, and most of the substitutes that are mentioned are long gone, having a big range of suitable yarns makes finding modern subs easier.

This two page spread is of an elongated stitch triangular shawl, done in a glittery yarn (Goldfingering, the glittery yarn used is still widely available) and a silky finish yarn; plus a zip-front tunic top or dress, done in a textured two-tone yarn. Please excuse the poor picture quality. I believe this book was originally a soft-cover. The copy I borrowed from my library has been re-bound with one of those heavy and anonymous green cloth library bindings. It's very tight and I had a lot of trouble trying to get it to lay flat enough to photograph, even with a book weight.



On the whole, if you run across this in a library, take a peek. If you find it in a second hand shop and are partial to pattern books and are in the market for something to help plan a first or second project, it's well worth the used book price. I see dozens of copies on line for under $5.00 US - some lower than the price of a single sheet pattern. While even for its time it wasn't as trendy as the various urban knitter/hip knitter beginners pattern collections today, it does offer a set of useful basic patterns, plus more technical meat than any of them.

And I do note that styles ARE cycling back to fitted armholes and away from drop shoulder boxy things...

Today's library find is another knitting book from the 1970s - Mark Dittrick was the editor of Design Knitting (New York: Hawthorne Books, 1978). It's a pattern book, featuring collections of work by Marianne Ake, Barbara Baker, Dione Christensen, Phoebe Fox, Maria Hart, Linda Mendelson, Dandree Rubin and Monna Weinman. I admit most of these names are unknown to me. A couple I'm familiar with but haven't seen in a very long time, but I didn't begin to knit until the mid '80s.

Like any book of trendy patterns, this one is dated. Stuff in it was the ultimate, latest thing when the book was new, but now looks saggy, sad and dated. This should be a caution to those of you who run out and buy hard-cover pattern books. Unless the designs in them are classics, you've just spent money on something you'll be comfortable using for only a year or two.

That being said, there are designs here that may be of interest. No ponchos, though. As someone who endured the '70s I can say that ponchos, while present, were no where near as popular as the ubiquity of today's retro patterns makes them appear. Capes were more popular. This book does contain a couple of capes, a belted cape/coat hybrid, and several kimono-style long coats. There are also lots of pullovers and a couple of cardigans. Quite a few are worked in larger gauges from doubled worsted yarn - 3 spi is typical. Sizing is limited by today's standards, with a large (in theory, size 16-18) measuring only 38 inches around. Most pieces though are one-size fits all. I'd say they probably fit a contemporary 8-12.

The various designers favor different styles. Some are fond of the riot of Intarsia and combos of texture and colorwork popular at that time (especially lacy stitches done in very large yarns). Others use more traditional pieces and techniques. A few of these traditional pieces are very wearable as written. They include several Icelandic-style stranded yoke sweaters, two entrelac pullovers, and a feather and fan pullover. There's an interesting and simple idea here for using short quantities several colors of yarns either doubled to knit at 3spi (or bulky weight singles) to make a tie-front jacket or vest - in mostly stockinette with scattered single-row purl welts. I can see that one looking quite nice done up? in a series of coordinating colors in someone's bulky?hand-spun.

Much of the rest of the book might provide inspiration, but would require some modification to make the shapes wearable today. For example, a couple of designers are heavily into the vanguard of the Giant Shoulder Movement. Others use sleeves that are very wide throughout their length, or blouse out above tight cuffs like the sleeves on a Seinfeldian Puffy Shirt.

I dithered over whether to show a page with the wearable stuff, or some of the more outrageous shots that show the dated pieces. The latter is more fun:



I think the model showing the belted mohair dress at the left has the most extreme "It itches" face I've ever seen in a professional photo spread.

Yes, there is more than one book by this name. In addition to the more recent Horst Schulz work on modular knitting, there's also Patchwork Knitting by Gail Selfridge (New York: Watson-Guptill, 1977).



Like the later book, this is an exploration in making garments and home decor items predicated on smaller, geometric units. Unlike recent domino/modular knitting books, these motifs are all knit indvidually and later seamed together, there's no directional knitting mentioned nor are the modules knit onto each other, saving seams. ? Instead this book explores the use of basic squares, ranging from four to eight inches across. Simple striping and Intarsia is used to emulate pieced patchwork style nine patch, twelve-patch, pinwheel, and log cabin modules, plus some simple figural motifs like hearts and stars. These modules are then assembled into mittens, scarves, sweaters, blankets, and other items.

While the styles shown betray its 1970s-origin, and there are now less labor-intensive explorations into the modular concept, this book isn't entirely passe. It is one of the first that introduced the aesthetics and geometry of pieced quilting into knitting. While we're used to seeing some of its concepts more or less regularly (like the log cabin quilt block reinterpreted in knitting) - there is still depth here to explore.
It also does a good job of explaining how to trick out an array of basic squares into a (more or less) shaped garment. Selfridge adds gussets and ribbings to bring some fit into what would otherwise be drop-shouldered, cubical pullovers and cardigans. The adapt-a-square instructions even cover adding thumbs and rounded ends to squares to make mittens, and adding limbs to squares to make toys. It's this latter group of small projects, including scarves and hats plus the blanket layouts, that might be the most useful.

For example, I've got two Little Kid Knitters here in the house. Their attention span doesn't extend to blankets or even whole pullovers, but they are both taken with the thought of making small squares that can be turned into teddy bears, hats, scarves, and mittens. Even if I have to do the thumb shaping or bear ears for them, the ideas shown in this book are a welcome addition to my store of "What can I make next?"responses.

I note that this book sells on the used market for a wide range of prices. While I certainly don't think there's enough here to merit the premium end of that spectrum, if you stumble across it at a reasonable cost it might be worthwhile, especially if you're teaching kids.

I also note that this book is very widely held in regional library networks. You can probably find a copy near you. I'd like to shamelessly plug local libraries here. They may not always be able to afford The Latest Thing anymore, but they are treasure troves - especially if they participate in a regional reciprocal loan program. Get out there and explore their holdings. Borrow something. Books - including knitting books - are more likely to be remaindered or discarded if they languish on the shelves. Help keep the stock of these older, still useful books available by letting your library know they are still desired and appreciated. And while you're at it, let the staff know that THEY'RE still appreciated, too.

Sometimes useful things can be found in strange places. I don't consider used book stores to be particularly strange places, but I've found all manner of things there overlooked at the end of the craft book shelves.

Case in point - those multicraft omnibus type books. You know the kind - Needlework 101 with a sagging binding, pix of frumpy looking or laughably outdated garments, and short chapters on everything from plain sewing to macrame, with side trips to knitting and crocheting. The Great Great?Godmother of all of these (though not the first book of this type) is the classic de Dillmont Encyclopedia of Needlework, aka The DMC Encyclopedia of Needlework. That book is still in print, and remains a very valuable resource in spite of the fact that it was first published in the 1890s.

There have been thousands of books of the same general type published since. Many can be found languishing in used book stores, upstaged by their far more popular sisters. But many of these books are more useful than their sad covers, dated projects, and scattershot presentation suggest. Today I'll look at a couple of these.

First is?Stitch by Stitch:? A Home Library of Sewing, Knitting, Crochet and Needlecraft.? I believe this to be a hardback periodical or installment-bought crafts series, issued in at least 20 volumes by Torstar Books. The copyrights start in 1984 or 1985. I only have Volume I (shown), so I can't speak to the rest of the series.

Volume I?is a standard exemplar of its type, but it's better illustrated than many, with the knitting?and crochet?sections stuffed full of?photos showing how to hold the needles or hook, and how to form?the stitches. That's the kicker in this particular book. It's got the best illustrations I've seen of the pencil grip, throwing/flicking?with the fingertip?knitting style. Volume I just covers the absolute basics - crochet chain, single, double and triple crochet; plus knit, purl, cast on, cast off, and ribbing, arranging the subject matter into six lessons for each craft?that use simple scarves and other projects to teach (some are very dated). There are also sections on needlepoint and plain sewing. ?Now not everyone NEEDS an on-shelf resource showing an alternative way to knit, but I've used it to help teach people who were uncomfortable with both Continental/picking, and the more popular methods of holding the yarn for British/American/throwing. Plus there's a bonus here. Among the patterns is a very nice lacy throw, shown as a baby blanket.

More useful is The Bantam Step by Step Book of Needlecraft by Judy Brittain; New York, Bantam, 1979 (left). This was also published in the UK as The Good Housekeeping Encylopaedia of Needlecraft, (possibly bearing the name of A. Carroll as editor) by Dorling Kindersley, Ltd, 1979. It's been re-issued under a couple of different covers over the years. Along with a '40s era Spool Cotton Company "Learn How Book" (right)given to me by my mother this is the book that taught me to knit.

Like Stitch by Stitch, this book covers several crafts and is copiously illustrated with color photos and (sadly dated) projects. It goes into much deeper detail than SbS.?? For example, the knitting section includes a small stitch dictionary, and covers all the basics, plus everything from designing one's own pattern to gloves, socks, traditional lace shawls and edgings, bead knitting, and fixing mistakes. It describes both throwing and picking?styles, but?after a couple of cursory how to hold the needle?drawings?avoids showing finger placement again, probably to avoid committing to one method or the other.There's a tremendous amount in there for only 90 pages of text and illustrations combined.

Although briefer, the crochet section is similarly nicely done. The book goes on to cover needlepoint and macrame (it was the '70s); weaving, tatting, several styles of embroidery; pieced quilting; applique; and plain sewing. I find it a handy reference, even though I've got lots of more specialized and more complete books on my shelves.

I still have my mother's?old green "Learn How Book."? That one is only 65 or so pages. It exists in many, many editions, varying mostly by the projects included at the end. Some editions also vary in the crafts detailed. Mine includes knitting, crochet and tatting, with side trips into embroidery for embellishment. The earlier ones were published by the Spool Cotton Company, which was bought by Clarks some time in the 1940s. Clarks in turn was gobbled up to become part of Coats & Clarks. The booklet continued to be published with updated projects and under the new owners' names in turn. It's useful but is now more of a sentimental curiousity than a living resource. I do however buy other editions of the thing when I stumble across them and the price is reasonable. I've got four or five now, ranging from the '40s through the early '60s.

Little to Do With Knitting - Firefly Series on DVD

How did we miss this one?? A very good friend gave us a Firefly?DVD set containing this entire very short lived SF series originally aired on Fox in 2002.

Fantastic!

We must have blinked at entirely the wrong nanosecond the half-season this was on the tubus. What an inopportune blink that was. Interesting scenario and stories, strong characters, excellent writing (too witty to have survived on regular TV), and even good acting with compelling and believable chemistry among the cast members.

The only bad thing about the DVD is that there were only 14 episodes, including a two-part pilot. But all is not lost. Sniffing around the web I note that a movie derived from the series is in production right now, scheduled for release in September.

Why does this have little to do with knitting instead of absoutely nothing?? In one of the episodes a particularly lumpen and lurid hand-knit hat makes a cameo appearance. It's such an incongruously memorable thing that knitting fans of the series have posted patterns for it.

I had the opportunity to hit my local library during the holdiay week. It appears that they're either culling their knitbook collection, or many other people had the same idea at the same time. The shelves were picked over, and even the older, dowdier looking books were in short supply. More investigations are necessary.

In any case, I did find this one:? Neighbors, Jane F. Reversible Two-Color Knitting. New York:? Scribners, 1974.

Neighbors appears to be a disciple of Barbara Walker (the book mentions her in the acknowledgements). The Walker legacy is also evident in layout and subject matter, both of which are very familiar if you know the Walker stitch treasuries.

Layout is very Treasury-like, with large, clear black and white photos illustrating each stitch. There are 12 pages of color illustrations showing the projects that accompany the stitch pattern directions. With the exception of one chart associated with the most complex project in the book, all directions are in prose.

The reversible techniques covered include

• Simple garter and knit/purl combos? - lots of tweedy-looking seed stitch and ribbing variants);
• slip stitch patterns - mostly?linen stitch variants, and "chain patterns" -linen stitch or other tweedy textures overlaid by columns of slipped knits that end up looking like embroidered chain stitch
• "Reversible geometrics" - slip stitch patterns that form regular (but different) designs on the front and back. One example of this is a vertical two-tone stripe that reverses to a horizontal two-tone stripe. This section also includes some mosaic-style slip stitch patterns.
• Motifs - Also included under geometrics, these are simple motifs worked in true double knitting to produce a double-thick fabric that shows a stockinette surface on both sides of the work. By necessity, motifs done in this techique swap colors front and back, so a red motif on a white ground would reverse to a white motif on a red ground. The double knit hat I made was done this way. Neighbors also describes stuffing the area created between the two faces of double knit motifs. She calls it Trapunto Knitting, a nod to the venerable quilting technique of the same name and similar method.

Patterns are marked as "true reversible;" "unlike reversible;" "alternate reversible'" and "opposite reversible" depending on the appearance of their flip side. Some but not all of the patterns assigned to the ?latter types are photographed both front and back. These photos are very helpful in understanding what the differences are.

The book also includes several simple projects in reversible knitting. I have to admit I found them uninspiring, but they are well described and would be good learning pieces. The best of the lot are some mittens, a shadow rib pullover, and a very 1970s wall hanging of a labrynth. The labrynth (the only charted project in the book) would be exceptional?updated as?a motif on a sweater, pillow,?or throw. The book ends with some solid discussions of project planning, motif mathematics and placement, specialized bind-offs for reversible patterns, and the basics of designing your own reversibles.

Reversible Two-Color Knitting is still in demand. I note that hardcover copies can command quite a premium, and have recently?sold in the $80-90 US range. (One optimistic seller has a? hardback edition priced at $150.) Paperback copies seem to go for $20-50 US. ?

Is it worth the premium price?? It's hard to say. Much of the material is available elsewhere. For example, many but not all of the stitches?Neighbors shows are covered in the four Walker treasuries. They're not called out by type of the pattern created on the reverse side, but they're there. The recently issued Fourth Treasury includes a previously published piece on vertical reversing to horizontal striping. There have also been other books on slip stitch and mosaic knitting of late that?plow this ground, too. It's harder though to find a book that discusses double sided double knitting. There are a couple (most notably Beverly Royce's Notes on Double Knitting), but they're?also not exactly easy to find.

I don't own this book, but I think I'd like to add it to my collection. I'll probably keep an opportunistic eye out for it at local general merchandise used book stores (the appearance of the thing is frumpy enough to languish on the shelves in shops unfamiliar with knitting content). I wouldn't pay a premium for it though, because while very useful it doesn't cover enough ground untouched by books I already have to justify a big investment.

Back at station. There's a giant hole in the world today where a dear friend of mine used to be. "Kinsmen die, cattle die. Every man is mortal, but one thing never dies: the?good name of one who has earned it." Havamal, 75.

My heart aches for his wife, son, family, and household.

---

As promised, here is the second review of the set - Montse Stanley's Creating & Knitting Your Own Designs for a Perfect Fit, New York,?Harper and Row, 1982.

In the days before knitting software, books like this one, personal apprenticeship, or trial and error were the ways one learned how to draft out one's own patterns. Not knowing anyone who was doing designs to ask for help, I relied exclusively on the "books plus making lots of mistakes" scenario for most of what I knit. A couple of books in particular were worth their weight in gold. This was one. The pictures and projects illustrated in C&K are now a bit late '70s funk/frumpy looking, but the basics of this book are as good as ever.

This book is so good in fact that I have used it in training classes for budding technical and professional writers, to illustrate how a complex set of technical concepts can be conveyed to an audience that includes both the experienced and novices without losing either of those readerships. The blurb says Stanley was an architect. I believe it, and would love to find out what sort of things she designed because the clarity of her thought processes rings from her pages.


It's a survey course in knit design and technique, packaged up in an amazingly brief 175 pages - including index and custom graph paper. Like Perfect Fit, this book covers taking measurements and turning them into dimensioned schematics. Like PF, it skips over making a sloper - but unlike that book it translates the measurements directly to specific vectors on the garments, rather than to an abstract and idealized shape. Therefore short waisted people end up with garments that start out being custom-fit to that figure type, rather than taking a standard shape and altering it to meet their needs. Stanley goes further, taking the brilliant step of introducing ratio-based graph paper into the garment design. You knit up a swatch, figure out your stitch:row ratio, and select the graph paper that matches the closest. You can then lay out your collar shapings or other details "in real time."? Need a 40-degree angle?? Slap a protractor on the graph paper and draw your line. The graph boxes under it each represent a real stitch, and the rate of increase or decrease needed to achieve that angle are easily seen and counted. The book includes about ten pages of ratio graph paper for photocopying. I don't know if anyone else wrote a knitting book that advocated the use of ratio-based graph paper before Stanley, but nothing else I've found has so clearly explained how to use it.

Stanley didn't just publish a graph paper book, she includes an extensive section on knitting technique, including finishing, grafting, short rows (darts),? mitering, picking up, and types of increases and decreases. She's got a stitch dictionary section? (all prose, none graphed); sections on materials and suitability, color, composition, and garment shapes - including a huge array of body, sleeve, closure, neckline, collar, and pocket options. Each garment shape is illustrated with a little line drawing, and has a brief prose description - usually enough to get one started drafting out that option on one's own. The placement of critical measurements on these little drawings enables seeing how the garment works in relation to body shape/size.

There's a section on moving beyond combos of these garment shape units; how color, knit direction, motif/texture placement and trim can greatly alter the look of a basic garment. Again this is illustrated with little line drawings, some woefully '70s in feel. Even though some are out of date, the wealth of them can start the reader's thought processes ticking.

The book closes out with a section on troubleshooting - what to do to correct styles (too long/short, narrow/wide), miscalculations (messed up texture or colorwork patterns), misplaced openings or buttonholes and the like. Add on some basic size charts, growth allowances charts for kids' clothing, ease allowance charts, a few other quick calculation look-up charts, some color photos of finished items and discussions of them (but not whole patterns) and you've got this book.

I admit that a book like this is less valuable today than it used to be. Knitting design software has enabled a much wider audience to do basic pattern drafting without resorting to calculators, graph paper and pencil. But this book will still be very useful for anyone who wants to move beyond? the "black box" mystery mechanism use of that software. For example, you can start off with a knitting software-generated simple cardigan, then get inspired by this book to turn it into a jacket with an asymmetrical closure slanting from hip to shoulder. Stanley won't tell you the exact stitch count or formula for that translation, but you will emerge from reading the her brief on that style with enough knowledge to make the change on your own. I suspect that everyone who has written a knitting design software package has?C&K on her or his shelf.

Montse Stanley's work (in combo with?that of a couple of other authors) has made a tremendous difference in the way I knit, the way I look at and use patterns, and the scope of what I feel is within my own limited competence.One warning - this book IS?hard to come by, and sells used at a premium above cover price. But if you can find it and afford it, and?want the inspiration and enabling it contains, I strongly recommend adding C&K to your library.

Pork in the Trees?

Well, as a somewhat pessimistic follower of Boston baseball, I had to go out and inspect the tops of the neighborhood oaks.  Surely pigs flew last night, and some might still be up there.   But on to needlework.

Not OOP Book Review - Bead Crochet

I'll break with my pattern of only reviewing long out of print books, and pick on something contemporary.  I found Bead Crochet by Bethany Barry in the library (Interweave Press, 2004). 

I have to say, I was highly disappointed.  Maybe my taste is entirely in my mouth.  I do like demonstrative jewelry and embellishment, but aside from a couple pix of historical and contemporary pieces in this book, the contents - especially the projects - left me stone cold.  

I was also extremely surprised that any book presenting a capsule history of crochet put out by Interweave can fail to cite Lis Paludan's wonderfully complete Crochet History and Technique - another Interweave Press publication.  The background of crochet given in the Beading book is vague at best, and flat out contradictory at worst.  It repeats the old nun's work saw on crochet's beginnings, and offers up a disciples-of-Christ origin for shepherd's knitting.  She mentions advanced bead crochet being taught in a Philadelphia academy in the 1820s (which seems a bit early to me based on other readings), but gives no exact citation  for it.  There are several exquisite examples of late 19th century beaded crochet in the book.  Most of these can be seen in the Amazon peek-inside preview. Unfortunately the rest of the text has nothing to do with them.

O.K., picky history criticisms aside, as this is clearly not a needlework history book.  On to the techniques and projects.  You see that large chaotic rope of beads on the cover?  All the projects inside look like that.  Large ones, small ones, square ones, pouch-style ones, flower shaped ones, ones done with eyelash yarns, and ones done with smooth yarns.  If you like the necklace on the cover and want to learn to make lots more encrusted things exactly like that, this is the book for you. 

To be fair, there is one project featuring instruction on how to crochet a basic beaded rope.  That's useful.  There are four pages of basic description for simple off-loom needle beading techniques (peyote stitch, brick stitch, square stitch, African herringbone weave) - but these things are described in passing, as adjuncts to the book's main premise - beaded crochet.

What was I expecting?  More substance, perhaps less art.  More detailed techniques, dipping into historcial sources for something besides clumps of randomly-encrusted crochet.  Maybe I wanted to see a range of things that can be done in bead crochet, and learn some techniques to make them.  While the gallery section at the back does show a wide range of pieces (some of which I do like), there is no relation between them and the techniques presented earlier.  

So to sum up - I'm glad I borrowed this one from the library before buying it.  As much as I like crochet and adore embellishment, I won't be adding this one to my permanent collection.

Still unplying.  Nothing much to report that's interesting on that front, so I turn to an old stand-by.  Yet another review of A Knitting Book that Time Forgot^TM.

This one is This is Knitting by Ethel Evans.  It was published in New York by Macmillan, and bears a copyright date of 1948.  Here's a typical page.

Evans book is clearly different from the Teenage Knitting book I wrote about earlier this week.  For starters, it's aimed at a general knitting audience, not one that's mostly high school and college aged.  It's divided more or less in half.  The first half presents about 40 knitting patterns for women, plus 20 each for babies, and men.  The second half of the book is a stitch dictionary, giving photos and directions for about 80 or so knitting standards, including knit/purl textures, simple cables, basic lace stitches, and even some tweedy linen stitch style colorwork.  There are no stitches in this collection that aren't also in either Walker 's First or Second Treasury. 

Directions are entirely in prose and like the other book, avoid confusing shorthand but are incomplete by modern standards.  Finishing directions are rudimentary at best "Press pieces, sew up."  Shaping isn't dealt with well.  Some photos of the adult garments clearly show more shaping than the pattern pieces as written will yield (perhaps judicious tailoring was done during sewing up, but that isn't mentioned).  Buttonhole placement isn't described at all, although directions for buttonholes follow some patterns.  I-cord trim used on some adult jackets is only hinted at, although it is clearly shown on the photos.

Some other odd things stand out about this book.  First, there are no patterns for kids garments between about two years of age and late adolescence (when they can wear grown-up stuff).  Second, the rudimentary how-to section is illustrated by flat photos of knitting on knitting needles - no hands holding them or in-process shots.  It's tough to see what is supposed to be happening in those photos.  My guess is that the how to section is just preaching to the choir.  I don't think the author ever intended for anyone to actually learn knitting from this book.  Maybe to use it as a refresher to remember skills learned long ago, but certainly not as a prime source of knowledge.

That being said, patterns here are more of the classics.  Simple cardigans, pullovers, jackets and vests, almost all with shoulder pads.  There are a couple of patterns written at worsted gauge (5spi); but most hover around 8spi.   Mens patterns are restricted to very conservative vests.  Even so, if you like fine gauge retro classic, you'll find several wide-ribbed, body hugging women's (and men's) pieces that might pique your interest.  

The two more valuable sections of the book are the baby patterns and the accessory patterns.  All of the baby knits are very simple, classic shapes that are wonderfully wearable today.  There are several layette sets with matching hats, sweaters, booties and mittens abound.  There is a surplice sweater plus several baby blankets that are particularly nice - the blankets being mostly the center panel in a texture stitch/wide garter or seed stitch border type.  All of the baby things are very simple in design, but again like the adult patterns, the write-ups aren't as detailed as new knitters might like.  Still, shapes and techniques are basic enough for an adventurous newbie to use this book, provided he or she is of the plunge-on-through mindset.   Sadly the copy I borrowed had several pages torn from the center of the baby pattern section, including the instructions for both the sweater and blanket I liked best.  (Death to the mutilators of library books!)

Accessories can be found throughout the thing.   There's a triangular head scarf that my daughter tells me would pass muster in her high school today.  Gloves, socks and mittens are here, too.  The glove patterns look especially nice.  There's one pair with triple cabled back I especially like.  One shortcoming - the argyle sock pattern in this book is severely simplified, and doesn't sport those nifty cross-hatchings that distinguish a true argyle from a plain old diamond pattern - probably because NO charts are used anywhere in the directions and the write-up on where to put all those single-stitch wide lines (or to position them using duplicate stitch) would have driven the copy editor mad.

Like most of these older books anyone trying to duplicate patterns will probably run into yarn substitution problems.  Looking at the list of yarns used in the book, my starting (and unswatched) swapping suggestions would be:

Yarn/typical gauge in book	Modern Substitute
Knitting Worsted/5-6spi	Modern DK weight wool, like  Heirloom Easy Care 8-ply
Germantown yarn/5spi	True worsted, like Cascade 220
Sport Yarn/7-8spi	Fingering weight wool (too many different styles of item use this in the book to peg it down to just one)
Shetland Floss	Light fingering weight wool, like Jamiesons Shetland Spindrift
3-ply Saxony/8spi	Easy care fingering weight baby wool.  Dale Baby Ull would work.
2-ply Saxony/10spi	Lighter weight fingering.  Patons Kroy 3-ply?  Brown Sheep Wildfoot? Regia 3-Ply?
2-Ply Angora/8spi	Fingering weight angora. Austermann Angora Wolle?
Sock yarn/8spi	Most modern sock yarns,