Knitting

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Giveaway: Knit Yourself In X2

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knit yourself in hen knitting book review

Anne and Ellie are our winners!

The other day I shared a review of Knit Yourself In: Inventive Patterns to Tell Your Story in the Danish “Hen Knitting” Tradition by Cecilie Kaurin and Linn Bryhn Jacobsen. It’s a fun and colorful book full of somewhat improvisational patterns meant to use up stash and show your personality.

Today I’m giving away two copies so a couple of you can explore this fun knitting style. Check out the review for more information, but the book includes more than 20 patterns using lots of colorful little motifs, mostly from nature, on garments for kids, men and women.

There is one thing that annoyed me about this book — and I totally get that it’s part of the style, but it’s not at all my style — is that motifs are left unfinished if there’s not room for a whole one. So you could be decreasing for a neckline and end up with a headless giraffe at the center front of your garment.

So my question for those of you who want a chance to win this book is: would something like that drive you crazy? If you were making a pattern where the stitches didn’t correspond to the motifs, would you fix it, or would you knit it the more whimsical hen knitting way?

As always, leave a comment before the end of the day Sunday, February 1, if you’d like a chance to win, and there will be two winners this week.

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing and good luck!

Comments

  1. I’m like you. Motifs are left unfinished if there’s not room for a whole one drive me crazy.

  5. I’d find a motif that blended well with the pattern. A “headless” giraffe is not a pretty sight!

  11. Maybe it is because I sew, there are times when motifs don’t match, it would not bother me. It (headless giraffe), only adds to the uniqueness and individually of the work.

  12. I don’t think that would bother me. I don’t think that people looking at your garment would notice.

  13. Oooh. Would drive me crazy, but I’m very interested in this book since my dad was Danish and I’ve not learned a lot about the knitting traditions of the Danes.

  14. it depends on what I’m knitting and for whom- I do like to wing it, though. I’ve never heard of hen knitting, but it sounds fun- what a wonderful way to tell a story!

  15. I’m usually very precise, but Hen Kntting sounds like fun, and I’d probably let it go. My Mom was Danish, and taught me to knit; I’d love to win this book.

  18. No question, I would fix it. That headless giraffe would drive me crazy and haunt my dreams. I always make changes in what I knit, even when I don’t think I will.

  19. It would bother me, but I would leave it as an exercise in wabi sabi. But I’d try to choose a motif that wouldn’t matter as much as a giraffe. If I win the book, I’ll give it a try and let you know!

  27. It would definitely drive me crazy and I would have to fix it. I am a perfectionist and I cannot help it!

  30. A headless giraffe on my chest would bother me! Along with everyone pointing at my chest! I would have to move him up to my shoulder or put a different motif in to even up the number of stitches.

Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn. 

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small. 

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches. 

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come. 

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you. 

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?). 

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry. 

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns. 

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]