Book Review: Closely Knit by Hannah Fettig

I'm still around. We have a house guest crashing on our aerobed right now, which has thrown all our routines and plans into a muddle. He's just moved to JC from Dallas, and had to start his job before his apartment was available on June 1. And he's a great guy, but it's hard having a third person taking up space. We only have two rooms in our house! But that's ok. I'm glad we are here to support him while he needs us. It's just meant that I haven't had a whole lot of time to knit or work, or drum...

I'm still working on my Girl Friday sweater. I have the back done, and am halfway up one side of the front, but I've really been concentrating on finishing at least one of my May socks (spiral boot socks) before the end of the month. I don't think there was any way I could have gotten the whole pair of knee socks done in a month. Each one is over 12" long before you even get to the heel! But I've turned the heel on the first one now, and I'm pretty sure I can finish them by Wednesday. I'm already falling behind in my sock plan. But that's ok! I'm still using yarn from my stash, and I'm still working on projects that have been in my queue forever. So it's all good. Eventually I'll have tons of new socks, and will have gotten through a whole bag of sock yarn. Some day... Just gotta keep my eyes on the prize, as they say. I can't wait until these socks are done though, as my boots are all brown, and the socks are brown, and I think it's gonna look way rad.

In the meantime, I'm reviewing another one of my new knitting books. I got this one on my recent trip to Dallas. There is a great bookstore chain in Texas called Half Price Books, and whenever I find myself near one, I have to go. Well this is the first time I've been in there since I started knitting, so I did check out the knitting books. There were quite a few, but mostly the duds, or the one-trick ponies (Pretty in Punk, I'm looking at you), but I did manage to find two books I wanted. The other one I'll talk about next time. Today's find is Closely Knit: Handmade Gifts for the Ones you Love by Hannah Fettig.

I really love the cover of this book. It's got a girl's arm reaching up to touch the shoulder of a guy standing behind her. She's wearing a cardigan from the book, and he's wearing a knit vest over a dress shirt. I like the fonts they used for the title, etc., and the whole package is just very inviting. Anyway, I'd looked at this book several times in the bookstore before, just to see if I wanted to order it from Amazon or not, and I never did. I think it was because it just wasn't a very big book, and I was not sure I'd ever make anything from it. But finding it at half price, now there's a different story! I think it was totally worth what I paid for it, and I do think that I will make a few of the projects.

A lot of the accessories are pretty basic. But I think that fits what the theme of the book is. The book is a collection of stuff that is supposed to be gifts for loved ones, and if you're anything like me, you're probably knitting these gifts at the last second, so you want something that looks good but is easy to make. Having said that, there are a few sweaters too, in case you need to make something more involved for someone. I probably wouldn't do that for anyone but my mom, but I can still use the sweater patterns to make stuff for me. There's a plain pullover that Spanky quite likes too.

The book is divided into sections depending on who you are thinking of: mothers, daughters, sisters, men, babies, and friends. That's kind of convenient, and I'm sure it helped her organize her thoughts and designs, but in truth, a lot of the patterns cross categories too, so don't get hung up on the book's categorization. There are 31 patterns--each section has about 5 or 6.

Here are my favorites:

1. Bird's Nest Pin Cushion
I just think this is adorable, and I love the addition of the fake bird. This is in the "Mom" section of the book, and my mom, who sews and quilts, would indeed love it. I don't like how the stuffing shows through the eggs, but I think a tighter knitter could get around that problem (or if a different yarn was used). Also, what a great way of using up scraps of sock yarn! You could make a bunch of different kinds of eggs, and gift the nest with some cute fancy pins.

2. Cashmere Ruffles Scarf
This is a gorgeous scarf. Also in the "Mom" section, but I think this would be a great holiday gift for a co-worker. Maybe not in cashmere, but perhaps an alpaca blend? I want one too, in the same red they've shown in the picture.

3. Vintage Knee Socks
After knitting my current knee socks, I'm not going to be too eager to embark on another pair, but this is a great pattern to remember in case I want to do a second set. I especially like how the pattern stops at the ankle, so that the foot will go much faster. This is in the "Daughter" section, and yes, it's quite young, but I'd wear these, and I might have made some for my sister, if she didn't live in Florida. She barely wears shoes let alone knee socks...

4. Cap-Sleeved Eyelet Top
This is also in the "Daughter" section, but I want to make it for me, me, me! I'll probably lengthen it a bit, but other than that, I just love it.

5. Simple Sweater
This pullover can be done from a variety of patterns out there. I don't know that it was necessary for this to be included. How boring! But yet, Spanky only likes sweaters like this. She doesn't ever want me to do cables or raglans, or anything colorful, so... I can always use a simple pullover pattern, even if I really could just use the Ann Budd sweater book to do the same thing.

6. Heart-Patch Pants
Obviously from the "Baby" section, I just love these to death. I've only made one pair of pants for a baby, which I hated making but turned out really cute. So I think if I make these, the baby's got to be one I really care about. But they're so cute!

There are a few more basic patterns in there that I think are nice, but eh. I'm probably not going to be doing a garter stitch blanket or some embroidered socks any time soon. There are plain hats, plain mittens, plain socks, that sort of thing. The most interesting part of the book was the baby part. I like a few of the baby sweaters, and I can see myself turning to this if I am looking for something interesting to knit for some co-worker's child. But I think for the ten bucks I spent, this was a good investment. There's enough here to make it worth it. If you're a really advanced knitter though, you might take a look through it at a library or B&N first, because you can find a lot of basic patterns like these on Ravelry for free, or in many, many other knitting books. If you want a handy one-stop shop though, with a few basics in every category, with a few interesting twists, then this is a good thing to invest in. I do feel like it's a good addition to my knitting library!

Be back when I have one completed knee sock! Ack!

Sunday, up early.

Well, it's not early anymore, but I've got the second of three loads of laundry in, and in ten minutes, I'll go down and switch out the first and second in the dryer. Need to vacuum, finish reading a chapter of a late, late, LATE manuscript, practice the drums, and perhaps later, knit a bit while watching a movie. I've just found another list I want to try to run down--50 essential Gay & Lesbian Films, which I got out of an older OUT magazine. My brother got me a subscription last year for Christmas, maybe, because he was broke, and, well... I don't know. It's mostly a glossy male take on being gay. Except sometimes they profile cool people (Hunx and his Punx) or this, a run-down of the 50 most essential gay films. I can't wait to start running this down.

I know what you're thinking... Whatever happened to the books you were reading? Honey, let me tell you, that Alice Munro short story collection was a) very hard to find, and b) when I finally tracked down a UK copy at a tiny used book store in the East Village, it was HUGE. Needless to say, it's propping up my alarm clock on my bedside table. Sigh. I really should have just bought it on the Kindle. I'm stymied. But I'll get back to it! In the meantime, I have films to see...

Anyway, as a way to make it up to you, I have a review of sorts. Knitting books have been finding their way into this house in a continuous stream all year, and I've basically ignored them all. Well, no more! I want to put them away, so that means going through them and evaluating...

The first one is a stranger to no one reading this, I'm sure: Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders. This book is obviously a treasure trove of patterns for sock yarn--101 patterns, to be precise. The patterns range from the ridiculously hideous to really awesome, and one of the best things I like about it is that there are patterns for little bits of sock yarn as well as the whole skein. Even when I finally, sometime this side of never, get to the last full skein of sock yarn in my stash, I will still have about 50 partials waiting for me to do something with them. And now I have a resource! (besides Ravelry, of course...)

Here are a few of my favorites--have to say, the shawl section was the best one over all, but there were some good socks and some passable gloves and mittens, although most of them weren't the most creative in my opinion. They should have done more doll clothes--that is such a great idea for sock yarn. My nieces each have those American Girl dolls, and I'm always thinking I should make stuff for them. Now I can!



The pics go from the back of the book to the front. Love that girl's octopus tattoo.

Also, I've finished (finally) my March socks. Except now I'm calling them my March/April socks.



Pattern: Diagonal Rib Socks by Pam Allen. I think I got this pattern from Knitting Daily or from the IK website or something. I've had it a long time. I thought this would be a good pattern for Spanky socks, but she didn't like these when they were done.



I think it was the patterning that she objected to. Apparently she really does only like plain socks, although she did say she likes the stripy ones. Anyway, the pattern was really easy to follow, and I just basically did what it said. I don't think I made any actual changes apart from just not knitting the cuffs as long as they said (7"). I was afraid that I'd run out of sock yarn, since the balls seemed to be a bit on the small side. I do have a small ball of each skein left, so I guess I could have made them longer, but better safe than sorry, since this wasn't the called for yarn.

Yarn: Strapaz, by Steinbach Wolle

I got this yarn at The Yarn Connection, a now defunct LYS that was near my office. I complained about it all the time while it was open--it was tiny, cranky ladies worked there, and there was a lack of interesting stock, but man, I sure do miss it now that it closed. This yarn is not my favorite. It's not that soft, and the color is this weird green/gray. I put a piece of white paper underneath the socks in an attempt to get a better shot of the color:



When I showed them to Spanky, that's what she said, 'They're green...' I guess what she meant is that she'd like them better if they were gray or black. Oh well. I don't know why I picked this color. My friend Constance uses this yarn all the time for socks, but she always picks baby pink or blue (she's into ballet, so I guess those are ballet colors...). Mine are much harsher/darker.

Needle: US size 2 dpns. I did mine on 4 dpns rather than 3, as the pattern states. I just don't like using 3 if I can help it. I only did when I got down to the foot, and it went a bit faster with all the patterning on one needle. Otherwise, I prefer four needles (5 total with the working needle).

The finished, blocked socks are thick and warm, but softer than they were pre-blocking. I'm looking forward to wearing them next year with clogs. I bet they're going to be great additions to my wardrobe.

Next up, knee socks! YIKES.