My living room is filled with bags, boxes and piles of fiber and samples for my classes at Ply Away and Dallas Fort Worth Fiber Festival. I am ready and nervously excited to go teach!
Spring+Summer Knitty went live yesterday, and that means a new Knittyspin column.
In this issue I explore the curious and yes, wonderful, world of wool mixed with flax or ramie. These blends have been around for a bit, but they became irresistible to me only recently. In my column I talk about spinning these interesting blends. Since I am a rookie at flax spinning, I asked two dyers who sell these blends, Jill of Hipstrings and Katie of Hilltop Cloud for help. I included their very helpful answers in the column.
One of the things I do for Knitty every issue is review books. I do short and to the point reviews that someone once described as dim sum reviews. Here's my review of a book that just floored me, creative, smart, and such pretty and wearable designs. I don't want you to miss it.
This Thing of Paper: Eleven Knitting Patterns Inspired by Books
by Karie Westermann
Every issue I fall a little in love with a book. I want to knit everything in it, I want to live where it was photographed, I want to befriend the author. I am not a stalker; I am a fan. This time it’s This Thing of Paper.
The eleven designs in this book are inspired in the point in book history when manuscripts became type. Every pattern is accompanied by a thought-provoking essay that either had me scurrying to do further research or nodding along with Karie’s personal stories. I wish more knitting books were filled with this type of excellent and insightful writing.
The Incunabula Cardigan is the first pattern I want to make, it’s a vintage inspired cabled cardigan, with beautiful cables floating on enough stockinette that I can adjust the shape to fit me how I like. I loved the Rubrication shawl (the cover design) even before I read that the stitch patterns were to evoke nibs and ink. The Letterpress cowl is a cozy, textured knit that I want to spin the yarn for.
The whole book package is gorgeously done, the size the paper selection, the photography and setting and the font, I’m swoony for the font.
This book is a beautiful marriage of books and knitting, of paper and yarn, I sincerely hope Karie has another book in the works.
I hope to see some of you over the next few weeks!
If you have tips for spinning wool and flax or wool and ramie let me know, my exploration is just getting started.