Books For Knitters, Both Young, And Well, Younger!

2 books have recently stumbled down my path, found their way into my life, and deposited themselves on my coffee table. Here’s what I found:

Knitty Kitty is an engaging tale, written by David Elliot, complete with gorgeous illustrations, by Christopher Denise, about a Kitty who, well, knits! The scarves, mittens and hats she makes for her kittens end up being used for something else, but no matter, they manage to stay warm anyway. And… the patterns for them are included! You’ll have to see for yourself how these mischevious kittens use their hats, mittens and scarves, and how mama keeps them warm anyway.

This is a nice hardcover book, suitable for your toddler’s coffee table!
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Shear Spirit is a book for every knitter. It seriously made me want to go hug a lamb! The subtitle is Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns, and Miles of Yarn. (It should read.. Miles of “Droolable” Yarn). I couldn’t put this book down. Not only are the Fiber Farms showcased, but their owners too. It’s nice to read about the “behind the scenes people who make this stuff happen”, the REAL people. The people who feed and care for their animals and who shear, work with rovings, spin, dye, knit, felt, and weave with the fibers. And love it. There are lambs, alpacas, even yaks in this book, but I think my personal favorite is the Icelandic sheep. From farms all over the USA, these stories and patterns will have you out hugging your fiber animals! This book’s description includes “A visual journey to America’s fiber farms and ranches plus a rich inside look at the challenging but rewarding lives of the people who have devoted their lives to harvesting and spinning fleece into yarn.” It’s truly inspiring to get to know others, if only through print and pictures, who’s lives revolve around the fiber animals we love.

Shear Spirit is written by Joan Tapper with photography by Gale Zucker.

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

Have you read?