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Yarn Haul: Ice Yarns

I often get asked about Turkish yarns, and since this giant, puffy bag of yarn landed on my doorstep today, I thought I’d shoot a quick video. Ice Yarns is an online yarn company based in Istanbul that ships all over the world. Their yarns are very reasonably priced and sell for as low as $1.99 for a pack (they don’t sell single skeins). Depending on where you live, you may end up paying more for shipping than for the yarns themselves, but from the comments on their website it looks like most people still consider them good value for money. Please don’t take my word for it though, and do your own research! On to the yarns…

Pure Alpaca
pure alpaca
pure alpaca
pure alpaca

Demet Wool
mint green acrylic/wool
mint green acrylic/wool

Loden Alpaca Superfine
cobweb-weight wool/alpaca
cobweb-weight wool/alpaca

Silk
lace-weight silk/alpaca/merino

Spiral Blend
acrylic/wool/mohair blend yarn
acrylic/wool/mohair blend yarn

I hope you enjoyed some vicarious yarn fondling. Now back to work! :)

31st October, 2012  // Reviews, video, Yarn // tags: , , , , , .

The Gentle Art of Knitting: Review

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stripy socks
It’s surprising that a book titled The Gentle Art of Knitting (UK / US) can polarise opinion so violently. I find it particularly strange that some find its tone patronising or pretentious because before I read any reviews online, I thought that this was indisputably one of the most unassuming knitting books I’ve ever read. Admittedly, I might be biased. I’ve followed Jane Brocket’s blog for 5 or 6 years and I love her style, her photography, her excellent colour-sense, and the wonderful discoveries she leads me to make: Persephone Books, knitting needle collecting, and now, possibly the delights of self-striping socks. If sock-knitting mavens are cringing at this, don’t worry, I will shortly be reviewing Sock Knitting Master Class for you! :)

So when Mrs. Brocket, after 7 (?) other books, finally got around to writing a knitting book, I promptly popped it into my Amazon wishlist and I haven’t been disappointed. Here’s how Jane describes her “gentle knitting” philosophy:

“Gentle knitting is knitting for comfort and to create comfort. It is knitting you can pick up when you have a few moments, and then put down without worrying that you will never remember where you left off; knitting that allows the mind to wander pleasantly without getting tangled up in repeats and row numbers; knitting that can be combined with other good things in life such as families, friends, chat, cake, tea, films and radio. It is knitting for the simple pleasure of knitting and of making something you like.”

the gentle art of knitting: colour

The book is divided into 5 sections which I do find a little arbitrary: comfort, practical, charm, colour and style. In my opinion the whole book is about colour, and how basic textures and patterns can be used to play with colour. The patterns are simple and useful enough to be knit again and again, something which Jane herself does all the time; take her string of jelly bean cushions from a few years ago, her self-striping socks, the ripple blanket craze she began (to the best of my knowledge) single-handedly.

I don’t think many designers would have had the courage to put together such simple patterns, and yet there’s a lot of room in my day for mindless knitting (as is possibly demonstrated by the fact that I’ve already begun two patterns from the book), and The Gentle Art of Knitting is a great source for that. Could I sit down and figure out the patterns myself? Of course, but I’d rather pick up a book off my shelf, even though I’ll probably make plenty of my own adjustments as I go along. In fact, more than anything this book reminds me of an old recipe book, one that falls open at the right page and has lots of scribbles and amendments, and more than a few biscuit crumbs. :)

stripy socks

Other Things I Love

  • The book seamlessly blends Jane’s photos with professionally styled and shot photos (as in the spread above: the photos on the left are by Jane, the photo on the right is by Kristin Perers).
  • The book is full of clever little tips for fudging and generally making life easier. The suggestion on page 66 is particularly thrifty and I will definitely be using it!
  • There are blurbs on “inspiration”, “design”, and “yarn and needles” for each pattern. And I particularly love the recommendations for books, wine, and films that accompany some of the patterns.
  • Tea cosies in 5 sizes!
  • 2 crochet patterns. In a knitting book. Unspeakable! ;)
  • All the further reading and exploration suggested in the book.
  • Once again, I have to stress Jane’s impeccable colour-sense. There are some great suggestions for shade cards in the “Colour” chapter, and all yarn colours used in patterns are given in great detail.
  • My favourite pattern has to be the School Colours Blanket, which is knit up in strips that can be worn as scarves, until they’re all ready to be stitched together into a blanket. That should be filed under all the headings, I think.

Is this book for you?

  • If you like Jane’s blog, and you’d like a good “go-to” book for simple patterns that you can knit for… forever, then yes! Buy it now: UK / US
  • If you’re a beginner, no, probably not. Determined beginners, of course, need not worry as they can accomplish anything.
  • If you don’t particularly see the charm of “bread-and-butter” knitting, and can’t think of a use for a tea cosy, then no, you probably won’t like The Gentle Art of Knitting.

A word of warning to American readers: the book uses British terminology. While this doesn’t matter so much in knitting, crochet terms are considerably different, and unfortunately I couldn’t see a note anywhere in the book that reminds you of this. If you think you might try the crochet patterns at some point, do yourself a favour and write out the conversions on a post-it and stick it in your book right now.

28th September, 2011  // Reviews // tags: , .

Post-Easter Excitement Post

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forsythia

I had a lovely Easter weekend, full of amazing food, flowers, fun, sunshine, boating & bunnies. I’ve loved seeing all the Chick Egg Cosies popping up on Ravelry during Easter. Eight-year-old Rose Red made a very sweet yellow chick, chia777 didn’t have any felt, so she beaded the beak, clockworkpurple made some with googly eyes (if I ever get my hands on some googly eyes, I’m going to make some that look like Pacman ghosts, with zig-zag edges!), smartcinderella made some cosies that are laced up corset-like, and theknittedcupcake knit some amazing multi-coloured chicklets. All so clever & crafty! If you haven’t knit any yet, remember, chicks and eggs aren’t just for Easter! :) Vetiverknits's Houses Slipover Also very lovely was seeing Vetiverknits’s finished Houses Slipover in gorgeous merino cashmere from The Knittery. Just nothing more exciting and satisfying than seeing people enjoying knitting from your patterns. Thank you all!

I’ve been knitting too, of course, and fiercely designing. I have too much inspiration for two hands, as always! But in addition to the knitting, I’m also very excited to be writing reviews for Cast On! I’m somewhat ashamed to say that I had never listened to Cast On until a few weeks ago; have I been living under a knitted rock? I remember last year a fellow knitter (Julia, who I met on Ravelry) and I were sitting in Aberystwyth Arts Centre drinking coffee and she told me I should really go listen to some knitting podcasts. She then whisked me off to a dance lesson and in between trying to remember the steps to the cha cha and the waltz I completely forgot about this excellent piece of advice. Well, I have now finished Series 5 of Cast On and I’m hooked on Brenda’s lovely voice, and in particular her weekly sweaters. My first review as a Knit Review Minion is for Simple Style, from the same series as Interweave’s Lace Style, Folk Style, and Wrap Style. I hope you have a read and let me know what you think, if only for my somewhat silly, rhyming bio!


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