Simply Knitting!

I often have a horrible fear that those magazines wrapped in plastic at the grocery store will be a huge disappointment. They can't let you see inside! How do I know that I REALLY want that pattern?

In a way, the same thing happened the other day at Barnes and Nobles. I saw a magazine wrapped in plastic... but with a pattern for a knit cake inside. Hmm. I bought it, found out how easy the cake was, and hit myself in the head for spending $10.50.

But then I realized that this magazine- Simply Knitting- had so much more stuff inside it.
True, the patterns leave something to be desired, but if you're truely obsessed (comme moi) you'd probably find Simply Knitting a fun read.


Reveiw breakdown:
P(s pattern)= (2/8)=25%Overall, the patterns were a little disappointing. I really liked this hat, though! Bulky is in. The other pattern I liked was a cute little baby dress, and a shrug for a small child... but the shrug was CROCHET.

Nonsenicalness= 1- This may be attributed to the fact that it's British, but a few of the stuff in this magazine didn't make any sense. There was an add encouraging you to order back issues, but according to the chart, all back issues were sold out EXCEPT THIS ONE. Also, there's a module titled "Sheep of the Month."

Interestingness= 5- "Sheep of the Month," while a little confusing, is still pretty interesting. Also, this magazine had a TON of fiber-related stuff, from yarn reviews to blog reviews to a knitting horoscope. Oh, not to mention a designer spotlight, articles on interesting charity projects, and HELPFUL yarn reviews. (Personally, I think a yarn review without a swatch is pointless.)Oh, need I bring up the fact that they have discount codes for buying yarn from the distributors that sell their product? It almost makes $10.50 worth it.

My overall review: four stars, but don't bother buying the magazine for the patterns.

Interweave Summer Preview

Okay, so usually I don't subscribe to magazines, touting them all over oblivion. There are a few online blogs that I love, but sometimes I find a magazine and just want to die. It's the same for books: sometimes, you just see one thing and you have to have it.

That's what happened ten short minutes ago when I read Knitting Daily today. Turns out, the Summer Preview is out on their website.

I fell in love with this lovely mesh lace tank, and had to dig deeper.Then I found these two gorgeous garmets, the Great Gatsby Dress and the Luminarie Skirt:

My verdict: I haven't even go the magazine in my hands and I love it. I'm going to preorder as soon as that paycheck deposits...

Knit Knit!

Well, I'm back from NYC, but I'm still obsessing over this book I bought at PS1! It's called Knit Knit: Profiles and Projects from Knitting's New Wave. I absolutely adore it! It has people, groups, patterns, sites. . . and a ton of pictures of innovative knit-things. They also have a website and a magazine. . . I want them T__T

Anyway, the book is devoid of any "You can knit, too, horray!" Slap-happy vibes that many other knitting books have been cursed with. On the contrary, it's much more of a "Look at this person. Don't you wish you were that creative? Envy." Seriously, some of the stuff is amazing:This house!? I bet I could find some way to make that. . . And this knitted room!? How awesome!

There's also patterns, for those of you who CAN'T buy a knitting book without patterns. Some of them might be a little hard to do, like this fiberglass teddy bear:

But some, like knit boxing gloves, a hat insbired by geodesic architecture, and this AMAZING cable cardigan, are definitely within my realm:
All in all, I think this is an amazing book. If not for the designers, for the inspiration. If not for the inspiration, for the patterns. If not for the patterns, for looking over them with your knitting friends and having quite the giggle. Definitely a buy! When's the sequel!?
(P.S.- The picture at the very top is designer Freddie Robbins. All the dolls in the background? KNIT AMIGURUMI.)

Downtown DiY: KNITTING.

Well, how nice! I came home yesterday and my mom had bought me a nice little book, on a whim! And a knitting book, on top of that! I have so few knitting books (I plan on changing that in the future) and this one had such a sweet cover. LIES!

First of all, I was really happy with the table of contents page. I love how it was laid out, love the pictures. As soon as I turned to this page, my eye was drawn to the cap in the upper right. Hey, I want to make that! So, I turned right to the page. What do I see?

The same picture on the cover. Okay, first I think: JIP. LAZY. But I forgive it. The instructions are pretty simple enough. They even have a nice instruction section, which explains the basics of knitting. I keep flipping through the book, and I notice a trend. . . NO PHOTOS.

Now, this makes me slightly irked. I really don't like working a pattern when I have nothing to go off of. They could have even used the same tiny pictures they put in the contents section (which I thought were lovely) and just made them bigger. But no. Instead, they do these arty, doodly sketches that look like they took the most of five minutes with a tablet and Corel Painter, with some knit textures paint bucketed in where the "project" is supposed to be. I don't know- maybe this was supposed to be "chic." Maybe their photographer had a mental breakdown and they hired a last-minute illustrator to fill some page space.



Whatever the excuse is, "it sucks and I hate it!" Is the only quote I can think of to describe this book. There's no pictures to go by except the tiny ones in the table of contents, the patterns, while presented in a fresh and clear way, are in no ways breakthrough. In fact, thinking back on the book I can't really even remember what designs there were. I do remember the sketchy little page fillers which, aside from serving no purpose but to distract you from the lack of knitting in the book, seemed to beg to be embroidered on something.

I especially like this one:

In conclusion, buy downtown DiY: Knitting for that tween in your life that thinks knitting and DiY is "cool" "indie" and "chic," but will probably never pick up a pair of needles in her life. Yes, I said her. Please do not buy a young pre-adolescent boy this book. It is obviously aimed for girls (another minus, on my docket.)
If you really liked this book, I apologize if I've offended your bad tastes. If you're the AUTHOR of this book, call me before you make a sequel, I'LL take the photos!

We're just lucky they don't have an equally humiliating crochet version. Or a Sewing version. WAIT. . .

So many things, so little time!

So hey there, Internet Land! I've been rolling yarn for the past FOREVER and working on a sock. Soo many people have gotten me yarn over Christmas, my stash box floweth over. Seriously. I have no idea what to do with a lot of this, as it's bulky and I usually work with fingering weight. o__o;

Sweetie's sister got me a pretty bag and a ton of yarn! Gio got me a pound of Caron yarn. . . which I might make a sweater with, not quite sure. . . and members of my family got me various novelty yarns.

I also have a ton of plushie work to do. . .


OH! I opened my copy of World of Knitted Toys! A lot of the things are worked on straight needles, which isn't really my cup o'tea (I hate seams) but if it's yours then you should most likely buy it. The pattern variety is great (It's not just twelve. . . . it's 47) and he simply assembly of the dolls gives me a boost of creativity. I can definitely see myself knitting up the snake, or the turtle, or the clown fish. . . or going with my own flow and turning the tiger into a lion, or the basic human pattern into a version of me! I think this is a great book overall, especially if you're just starting into knit amigurumi. I should probably also sneak in the fact that if you think about the pattern, the knit pieces can be converted to fabric pieces, and the dolls sewn together, hehe. So sneaky!



So long for now, I think it's time to bind off my sock aberration and start rolling up that pound of yarn!