Knitting

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Book Review: Knitting Ephemera

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knitting ephemera book reviewAny craft that has been around as long as knitting has is sure to have a lot of lore, fun facts and trivia attached to it. Carol J. Sulcoski gathered a bunch of those facts, stories and tidbits into her book Knitting Ephemera: A Compendium of Articles, Useful and Otherwise, for the Edification and Amusement of the Handknitter.

That pretty well explains what the book is. It contains a miscellany of information about where knitting came from, how it has been practiced through the years, different techniques and styles, facts about fiber, famous knitters and famous people who are knitters. There’s information about fictional knitters, knitting acronyms and figures of speech that come from the fiber and knitting world.

Opening the book up randomly, I find a discussion of the difference between the knitting patterns Feather & Fan and Old Shale, a collection of surnames derived from fiber-related occupations (like Howard, from an Old English word for one who tends ewes), a collection of punny yarn shop names, a brief history of Bohus knitting, the possibly apocryphal story of why William Lee invented his sock knitting machine and the story of the name Susan Bates.

It’s a really fun book if you’d like to know more about the history, personalities and trivia of knitting, if you’d like to know and share fun facts about your favorite craft with others, or as a gift to a knitting friend.

About the book: 136 pages, hardback with ribbon bookmark. Sixth & Spring Books, published February 2016. Suggested retail $14.95.

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Comments

  1. I love all that trivia. So fun to learn how things got started or used to be used. I think the shepherds used to knit while tending the sheep.

  2. How fun to put my love of reading together with my love of knitting and yarn!! :>)

Have you read?

Add a Little Lace to Your Knitting Patterns

If you’re new to lace knitting or just aren’t sure how to incorporate the technique into garments, check out these tops and sweaters that use lace as a decorative element.

The easiest lace out there is eyelets, and you can practice them plenty with this eyelet covered sweater from Knitcro Addict. It uses light/DK weight yarn and is worked in four pieces knit flat. It’s intended to be a little cropped and a little oversized, and includes sizes XS to XXL in the pattern.

If you’re in parts of the world where it’s getting colder as you read this, the Nora sweater from Bummbul might be a good choice. This is actually a great one for learning lace because it’s worked in super bulky yarn, which makes it easier to see what you’re doing and makes the lace super graphic. This one just comes in one size, with a 42 inch (106) cm bust, but that could fit a variety of people depending on how much ease you like.

Minimi Knit Design has a cute allover lace cardigan worked in one piece from the bottom up. It’s worked in lace weight mohair held double, which maybe isn’t the best for those new to lace (because it can be hard to rip out) but it sure is pretty. Sizes range to fit from 30 to 66 inches/76 to 168 cm bust measurements.

If you’d rather not have lace all over your sweater, you can knit the Lumi sweater from Originally Lovely, which has a chevron lace pattern on the yoke and is otherwise worked in reverse stockinette stitch. (It’s worked inside out so you don’t have to purl every stitch.) The pattern has 9 sizes from XS to 5XL and uses worsted weight yarn.

Or try the super romantic sookie blouse from Trust the mojo (available on Ravelry). This sweet top is started working flat from the bottom up and has a V-neck and I-cord edgings. The sleeves are worked separately in the round, and the pieces are all joined together to work in one piece to finish off the top. It comes in eight sizes and is available in English and French.

You can also pair lacy sleeves with an otherwise plain top, like on the Starflower Wrap from Annelise Driscoll Gingrow. This intermediate pattern makes a wrap sweater with generous lacy sleeves and a double wrap belt. The pattern has nine sizes, from XS to 5XL, and is available for free from Hobbi.