Project Update

Okay, so I've bound off the back of my Gulls and Garter vest, and I'm at just over 10 inches on my Ribbed Shell in Kroy SocksFX. I haven't yet cast on the two fronts on the Gulls and Garter, because I'm still working out how many stitches to cast on for each. I have to account for the button bands, which will be in seed stitch, but I'm wondering if I should decrease the pattern stitches, and if so, by how much. I do want the vest to close, and the button bands will overlap, so I may not decrease the pattern stitches. The pattern does have a "multiple of .." requirement, so decreasing the stitches would cause a problem. Anyway, I'm going back-and-forth about it.

I just got a bunch of knitting books from Amazon, 4 for my Kindle, and 3 in real book format. I have to say, I think I prefer having the real book in my hands, but the Kindle ~ and I do the Kindle-on-my-PC much more often than not ~ does show the pages well. I just need a printed pattern, so I can mark it up, and I haven't figured out how to do that from my Kindle. Or even if I can.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about one of the books I got.  Knitting the Perfect Fit, by Melissa Leapman I love this book! She's got pages and pages of instructions on how to make decorative increases and decreases, how to position cables to accentuate the parts of you you want people to notice, etc. And she has 19 patterns in the book, as well. I like a majority of them, around 14 of them in facr. That seldom happens when I buy a knitting book. She's very straightforward in her instructions, and in the patterns, and she includes lots of other tips and tricks to make your knits look great. I highly recommend this book! (And no, I didn't get asked or paid to write this endoresement. I just love this book!)

I also picked up the original Stich 'n Bitch, Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick (different cover than the one I got) , Kim Hargreaves' Vintage Designs to Knit, also a different cover than mine,
 November Knits by Kate Gagnon Osbourne and Courtney Kelley, Knitting Classic Styles by Veronik Avery, and The Best of Knitscene by Lisa Shroyer. Good things in all of them, although I wasn't aware of how basic the Stitch 'n Bitch book was. Oh, well. Maybe I can use that one with my students next school year. I do a class after the regular day to teach kids how to knit, almost every year. (I didn't last year, because it was a very difficult class, and I had a lot of health issues that I was struggling to ger under control. I am definitely doing the class this next year, though.

So, no pictures of my knitting, yet, but at least you get to look at the covers of all the new books I got! I know it's not the same, really. And I do plan to take pictures of my finished objects, but that won't be for at least a week or more. Be patient!