Yesterday Kim and I took a road trip to the very pretty town of Lewisburg PA to deliver a beautiful golden retriever to his new home. It was a beautiful trip on a gorgeous sunny day. The joy with which Sonny's new family greeted him was so moving. It gave me a glimpse of the joyful side of animal rescue work. The three of them -- husband, wife and dog -- bonded immediately, with the formerly nervous Golden happily jumping into their car and kissing the driver! Kim devotes a lot of time, heart and effort to the Central PA Golden Retriever Rescue and has three gorgeous goldens of her own.
She took me to Mad About Ewe, Lewisburg's downtown yarn store. Libby, the owner, is also a spinner and weaver and raises sheep, so in addition to yarn there were bags of natural colored roving from her own flock, Ashford dyed top and gorgeous examples of weaving from handspun. Beautiful handspun. Gorgeous, evenly spun, evenly plied handspun. She gave me a brochure from the Lewisburg spinners and weavers guild and my goal is to get over there to attend their monthly meetings. Fortunately they are held on Sunday afternoons, which makes getting there possible for those of us who live a ways away. Let's hope for clear roads on the second Sunday in January.
On my way home, I stopped at Barnes and Noble. I had a coupon in my pocket and was ready to buy! I thought I wanted Nicky Epstein's Knitting Beyond the Edge. The gorgeous multicolor work on the cover, my pleasure in the previous two books (Knitting On the Edge and Over the Edge).... Uh uh. I looked through it and put it back. What I did buy, to my surprise, was Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. People have been talking about it as a how-to book, which it is -- a great course in the whole range of sock knitting techniques. I wasn't really looking for that, but it also has wonderful sock patterns and -- even better -- a stitch dictionary for knitting in the round.
I have always used Mary Moran's Knitter's Desktop Companion for that, and still do, but Schurch provides additional stitches in the round. And since I appear to be cognitively unable to process Barbara Walker's instructions on how to convert flat stitch patterns into circular knitting (from her second Treasury book), I grabbed Sensational Knitted Socks. Great stitch patterns. I am now planning to attend Stitches East next year, if for no other reason than to take the class Gwen Bortner offers in "Flat to Circular and Back Again." Obviously something I have not been able to teach myself. Maybe I will try again over the winter break.
Speaking of Knitters ... sigh. I took a look at the new Knitters (the Winter issue), was appalled, then went back and bought it. Huh? Yeah. I know that so many bloggers take potshots at Knitters, but why do they make it so easy? Here's the round-up of my concerns, and also what convinced me to buy the magazine:
- The mitered jacket by Jane Slicer-Smith. I am glad they call it a harlequin jacket, because that is truth in advertising -- a harlequin is a clown. But under the garish colors (in my opinion, of course, because after all this is my blog), is a fascinating construction. I was going to photocopy the picture to get it in black and white, to see it without the lime green, and then discovered to my delight that they include a black and white picture to encourage folks to choose their own colors. Then I realized -- there is no picture of the back of this jacket. None. Score: Garishness: -1 Great construction: +1 Useful photos: +1 for the black and white, -1 for no picture of the back. (I am also not sure why the designer chose not to extend the i-cord trim to the bottom of the front edge.)
- A very nice mosaic sock pattern by Judy Sumner. Score: +1
- I love creative modern fair isle. I really dislike the Ski Duet patterns. Most of the other colorwork patterns also struck me as garish. Score -1
- I really like Penny Ollman's cabled cardigan, which will be made with one of the batches of aran-weight yarn I have in the stash. Score: +1
- I like Kay Dalquist's Pastel Ribbons vest. The best colorwork in the issue AND a back view of the vest. Finally! Score: +1
- The back of a sweater is important to anyone thinking about the construction of a sweater, vest or jacket. It is so irritating that Knitters doesn't bother. Score: -1
- Total score fell on the plus side and I bought it.
I would write to them about the lack of photos of the backs of the sweaters, but they never take readers' critiques seriously or with good grace. Oh well. Maybe I'll try.
Meanwhile, the Lacy Mock Cable socks continue toward the end. Unfortunately the inside of the skein came out in an incredible tangle of yarn barf, so that will slow down the completion of one of the socks.
