Review: Make Your Own Idea Book with Arne & Carlos

One of the things I love about the Arne & Carlos books is the way they are designed. There are so many fun pictures displaying some of their collections and the things that inspired the designs.

Arne & Carlos develop their ideas using idea books, which are part art journal, part three-dimensional Pinterest. These handmade smash books are glorious, holding sketches, swatches, ticket stubs and whatever ephemera they collect on their travels.

They share exactly how they make their idea books and what people might include in their own in their book Make Your Own Idea Book with Arne & Carlos: Create Handmade Art Journals and Bound Keepsakes to Store Inspiration and Memories.

While the book doesn’t really have anything to do with knitting, it’s possible to use idea books to gather knitting inspiration or pattern notes, and Arne & Carlos use them in developing knitting patterns, books and designs.

The first part of the book covers how they make their idea books, using a variety of papers sewn together and bound. Most of the materials are pretty simple to acquire, and you can easily make a bunch to store all sorts of ideas and inspiration.

The rest of the book talks about different ways you can use the journals, with pictures from their idea books to show how it might be done. Some of the many ideas shown include collecting ideas for knitting and crochet, gardening, geneology, hobbies, travel, weddings, holidays and more.

This book is so fun and inspiring and will make you want to make your own books (I have a simpler version on my blog) and fill them with all sorts of great stuff.

About the book: 168 pages, paperback with interior flaps. Published June 2016 by Trafalgar Square Books. Suggested retail $22.95.

Next Pattern:

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.

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