Saturday, September 25, 2010

Maybe the slump is over?

I have been knitting away on my featherweight cardi. As you can see, I have made progress beyond the yoke and am about half-way down the body. It is a lovely knit, lightweight and soft, and since it is just stockinette, it is pretty mindless. The only thing I have to watch out for is that I don't miss one of the 3 strands as I knit.
I was going to put a lace border on and have been scanning my lace pattern books looking for an appropriate design. Unfortunately, nothing is calling to me right now so I may just stick with the stockinette and leave the lace for another version. I have lots of lace weight yarn and this pattern is a very easy one to wear as it is lightweight.

Today's topic, though is the follow-up on the other two books I recently purchased. Dover had a sale so I bought the two re-published Alice Starmore books and the new commemorative Knitter's Almanac. Now to compare and contrast the old and the new editions of these.
I had the UK version of the Fair Isle Knitting book. So the cover is a bit different from the US version. The left is my older hardbound copy and the right is the new paperback. The paper is glossy and nice in both editions. There is no new content as far as I can see. This is a great book to learn the techniques of Fair Isle knitting and also to get a compendium of fair-isle motifs to pick from.

The patterns for garments in the book call for 2-ply jumperweight. The older edition mentions Jamieson and Smith. The new one doesn't. The older edition mentions the shade # in J&S as well as the name. The new edition just mentions the name. So you will have to find a supplier who keeps the name along with the number if you want to source it.

At the back, there is a new About the Author section which has a bio of Alice Starmore and a list of her books. On the facing page are photographs of 3 of her later designs Mara, Marina and Oregon Autumn. Both the back and the front of each are photographed.
The last of the 3 (I did Aran Knitting last time) compare and contrasts is Knitter's Almanac. Both of these editions are currently available from both Dover and Schoolhouse Press.
As you can see, the new edition is much larger and is hardbound. The content is of course, unchanged but there are some goodies in it.
The first is a lovely reproduction of a Andrew Wyeth painting featuring the Maltese Hat. Andrew's wife is a knitter and an Elizabeth Zimmerman fan and this is a favorite.
There is a new introduction by Stephanie Pearl-McFee.
The garments have all been re-knitted and are photographed in color.
There is the mystery blanket...and some mittens for winter.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The new Knitter's Almanac is a keeper. I have the old edition and while the patterns are the same, it does help to see the finished objects in color. Hardbound - another advantage.