Two Books
"Book Fractal: Complete"
Have you noticed that the publication of new knitting books is starting to slow down? I have and I can't say it's made me sad at all. Some of the books published this time last year were almost embarrassing in their pattern content. You could look at some books and see that they were published by people who knew very little about the craft and were simply chasing after the tail end of what has been a profitable half-decade for the industry. So, I'm not sad to see book publication slow down a bit.
Two new knitting books have captured my attention recently and I can't stop thinking or talking about them. I don't own them...yet, but I doubt it will take long for them to find their way to my already full bookshelves.
The first is "Knit So Fine" by Lisa Myers Now, I know that not every knitter enjoys large projects on small needles and I'm not sure I do either, but I love the results. Knitting with dk weight or smaller yarn produced lovely, light fabric that cannot be simulated with thicker yarns. Now, it seems that the knitting industry views knitting with thin yarns as a kind of passing fad and when I opened "Knit So Fine" I did not expect to find such a beautiful, thoughtful, and innovative book. The patterns were attractive, approachable, and excitingly innovative. If you have a chance to flip through this book, make sure you do.
Another book that is worth seeking out is "More Big Girl Knits" by Jill Moreno and Amy Singer I was not overly-impressed by the content of the first Big Girl book, but commended the achievement of actually getting a book of fashion conscious patterns targeted towards heavy women published. In their second book, Moreno and Singer raised the bar for "big girl" hand knit styling. Even skinny women will want to make these patterns! They are exciting and attractive designs. I do have one large complaint with this book: the photos. I love the real-life models, the knits they model fit properly, and the backgrounds are lovely, but these pictures feel cramped and too closely cropped in the book. The photos needed more space. I kept squinting at pictures wishing they had provided another photo or at least not cropped the images so tightly. But regardless of that criticism, this book with worth a look no matter what your size.
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