New Arrivals

What’s new on our bookshelves

Knit One Knit All

Knit One Knit All is a love fest you can knit - and a beautifully scrumtious book to boot!  Seeing all of Elizabeth's garter stitch designs in one place, beautifully photographed and with patterns and asides so nicely described is just about as good as it gets for anyone interested in knitting, in clothing construction, or even just in the wearable nature of geometry.

It is also a fantastic tour through the mind of a remarkably creative knitter and the woman I consider to be the Godmother of Modern Knitting.  Although I've read every one of Elizabeth's books and even all her old newsletters from my subscription "way back when," putting her garter stitch designs all in a single volume  shines a light on Elizabeth's creative process as it developed over the course of her life. 

It also offers up an inexhaustable menu of things to knit and love.  You'll find 39 different garments - hats, mittens, gloves, socks, booties, slippers, baby things of all description, vests, sweaters and jackets.  Each is wonderfully different from the rest, with innovative construction at every step. And each will set your fingers a-tingle with the urge to pick up your needles and knit! 

Knit One Knit All is a treasure and on the must-have list for anyone who loves knitting.

Knitting Ganseys - DVD

Get your knitting basket, take a seat, turn on your DVD player and learn gansey knitting from a master.

Based on her book, Knitting Ganseys, Beth Brown-Reinsel brings you the history, tradition and techniques of knitting this historic fisherman's sweater.  You'll learn the time-honored techniques of gansey creation by knitting a doll-sized gansey that will teach you:

• 25 techniques to be used in all types of knitting
• how to read charts with ease
• 3 steps to designing your own gansey

Additionally, you'll find the pattern and instructions to a brand new adult-size gansey as an enticing bonus. 

This is a warmhearted, engaging tutorial that is simply packed with all manner of wonderful things to know and love.  It's hard to imagine anyone using this DVD coming away with anything less than nimble fingers and a passion for ganseys.

Charts Made Simple

Never again be confounded by a knitting chart!  That's not just a promise, but a guarantee when you have a copy of Charts Made Simple at your side. JC Briar clearly, simply and thoroughly teaches you how to read any chart fluently.  With JC as your guide, you will not only learn to read charts as easily as you are reading this sentence, but you will discover the almost magical simplicity and abundant advantages they offer knitters.  Slip a copy into your knitting bag and you'll sail into charted realms of knitting delights with a confident smile.

Charts Made Simple will teach you:

• to see that a chart is a picture of knitted fabric
• to make sense of the symbols in a chart without being tied to its key
• to use charts as guides for minimizing and recovering from mistakes
• to handle chart quirks - "no stitch" symbols, repeated stitches, changes in stitch count, and more -- with ease.

 

Classic Knits

This timeless collection of knitwear designs from Danish designer Marianne Isager is a stitch technique guide and a gallery of design inspiration in one book. Classic Knits features 25 traditional, appealing projects worked in basic knit and purl stitch patterns, each with a distinctive design element. Typical of Marianne's style, these elements range from an interesting combination of yarns, to a clever use of stitch pattern, or an unusual form of construction.

Choose the knitting technique you'd like to learn-entrelac, color stranding, double knitting, slip stitch, herringbone, and more - and apply them to your design by first practicing with a gauge swatch. When the swatch is knit to the correct gauge and the same size as shown in the book, the garment will match the measurements listed in the pattern. Many of the garments in this book are based on simple knit-purl pattern stitches. None require extensive knitting experience. You only need to know how to cast on, knit, and bind off to successfully complete any project in this book. All other information is provided in sidebars and the Glossary.  Several of the garments are worked from the top down, so it's easy to add or remove rows to customize the lengths.

Japanese Inspired Knits

Inspired by the seasonal festivals and traditions of Japan, Marianne Isager blends traditional Scandinavian knitting with a distinctive Japanese influence in Japanese Inspired Knits. She helps readers explore beautiful design elements steeped in folk customs with these patterns created especially for women. True to the Japanese ideals of high-quality design and materials, Marianne presents 12 sweaters oriented around the months of the year that are knit using almost a dozen different techniques. With project names like Sake and Soba, Summer in Tokyo, Rice Fields, Flower Buds, and Stone Garden, knitters have inspiration aplenty. In additional to standard knit and purl combinations, the patterns feature double knitting, domino knitting, shadow knitting, lace, cables, entrelac, intarsia, and stranded two-color knitting. All techniques are described in detail with clear text and illustrations, and an illustrated glossary at the end of the book provides additional technical instruction needed for any project. Also included are Japanese ideographs that relate to themes that inspired the projects, a Japanese calendar, plus lush travel photography of Japan that will inspire any knitter.

Inca Knits

Incorporating Incan knitting traditions with contemporary trends, Isager's new collection of knitwear designs features 25 garments that bring the vibrant and geometric motifs of the Andean design to the 21st century. By innovatively combining knit-and-purl techniques in lightweight yarns, the stunning colors, stripes, and zigzags of South American patterns are complemented by subtle textures. All the featured projects are suitable for any intermediate knitter, with instructions and charts for each pattern as well as a glossary to clarify various knitting techniques. Beyond its instructional role, this guide also directs knitters to find inspiration for their own designs by examining the landscape, wildlife, and pottery of the high Andes.

Nordic Felted Knits

Discover a world where felting becomes an art and felted things are beautiful and luxurious.  Gerd Fjellanger takes you into the Nordic traditions of felting and fulling, showing you just how it's done and how to create fashionable yet very practical sweaters, jackests, hats, purses and more.   She also shows you how to control your felting and how to make sure the finished garment or accessory are just the right size.  For the explorer in every knitter!

A Knitter's Book of Yarn

For every knitter who has asked the question, “What can I make with this yarn?” here at last is the definitive guide to understanding and selecting yarn. Clara Parkes offers a comprehensive guide to yarns and their qualities that will help you get the results you want for every project. The Knitters Book of Yarn breaks it down into the essentials, focusing on the most common types of fibers and how their qualities impact yarns behavior. And because knitters learn best by doing, the book includes 40 patterns by knitting’s biggest stars, such as Cat Bordhi, Tara Jon Manning, Margaret Klein Wilson, and Teva Durham, designed to highlight the qualities of each type of yarn.

The Knitter's Book of Wool

In this complete guide to wool - the most popular yarn around - passionate wool expert Clara Parkes translates the vast world of sheep and their wool into the language and context of kniting.

What is wool? Clara starts with the fundamentals: what wool is made of, how it gets off the sheep, and how it is transformed from a jumbled mass of dirty fluff into a gorgeous yarn that so tempts us at our local yarn stores.

Who makes it? Parkes conducts an inspiring tour of sheep breeds from around the world - introducing us to the animals who give us their wool - and explains how to best knit with yarns made from their fibers.

Which yarn do I use? If only there were a way to read a skein to know how it would behave and what it wanted to become. Now there is! Parkes demystifies the generic (non-breed-specific) wool yarn you'll find at your local yarn shop, showing you how to best determine what every yarn longs to be.

What do I knit? Parkes went to some of the most creative and inquisitive design minds of the kniting world to provide more than 20 patterns that highlight the qualities of specific types of wool.

The Knitter's Book of Wool teaches you everything you need to know about wool - and its journey from pasture to pullover. The next time you pick up a skein, you won't have to wonder what to create with it. You'll just know.

Sock Innovation

This is a beautiful tutorial for learning to create your own sock designs - and make sure the socks clad in them fit.  It is also a wonderful gallery of sock patterns and ideas - really, there's nothing not to love about this book. 

Cookie A., is a pioneer of the unconventional sock.  Think: traveling stitches, mirrored pairs, twists on the heel, cables and lace.  Here she shares her secrets for making rule-breaking socks. Even knitters who haven't been bitten by the sock bug will find fascinating technique information! "Sock Innovation" aims to increase the skills of the average sock knitter by exploring design and advanced stitch manipulation.

Sock Innovation goes beyond the basic sock to explore complex stitchery, treating the sock as a knitted canvas where elements are strategically and intentionally placed. Cookie guides knitters through the details of her design process, from choosing a stitch pattern to adapting it to be worked in the round, turned upside-down and inside-out, widened or narrowed. Stitch manipulation is covered in detail including resizing, texture modification, and converting between flat and in-the-round. These complex ideas are explained clearly and thoroughly, accompanied by photographs and illustrations, so that the reader learns to invent his or her own socks with unique details. In addition to a thorough exploration of her own technique, Cookie presents 15 original new designs with floral lace patterns, angular geometric shapes, and unusual cables. Inspired by women and men among her friends and family, these socks display an incredible range of style and complexity, from sweet and simple to delightfully imaginative.

More Big Girl Knits

If you've got it, flaunt it!  The philosophy behind Big Girl Knits continues to offer larger women ways to cast aside the belief that they are adrift in a skinny world, and embrace instead the beauty of being ample.  The geniuses behind Big Girl Knits present 25 all-new curve-flattering projects that explore the beauty of color and texture. Part knitting instruction book and part sassy style guide, More Big Girl Knits goes beyond teaching the basics to tackle all-new methods for creating beautiful plus-size knitwear.

The Yarn Lover's Guide to Hand Dyeing

Discover the rainbow world of hand dyeing along with a gallery of designs you can use to show off your new creations!  Now you can create the yarn of your dreams easily and with confidence and then go on to knit that yarn into something beautiful.  Linda LaBelle's passion for color and dedication to the art of hand-dyeing combine to give us one of the best "how-to" manuals on the subject ever written.  If you've ever wanted to explore dyeing as an art, this is the perfect book to guide you every step of the way.

Mother-Daughter Knits

After decades of teaching, designing, and writing about knitting, Sally Melville knows how to customize knitting patterns to fit a wide variety of body types perfectly. With a little planning and subtle alterations, you can make a garment that is just right for you! In Mother-Daughter Knits, Sally shares this knowledge for the first time.

Together with her daughter, fellow knitwear designer Caddy Melville Ledbetter, Sally demystifies the process of picking the right pattern and modifying it to your body’s advantage. With fascinating insight, practical advice, and patterns for both classic and avant-garde tastes, Mother-Daughter Knits just might be the most useful guide a knitter could have. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced knitter, young or mature, an hourglass or a triangle, Sally and Caddy have you covered!

Having a new Sally Melville Book to page through is like being at a pajama party with a trusted friend: fun, comforting, and energizing all at the same time.  This time, Sally has brought her daughter, Caddy, to the knitting party as co-author and esigner, andtheir resulting book is full of fresh and flattering designs from two different design perspetives, plus a lot of great information on just how and where to change a pattern to fit you properly.  Mother-Daughter Knits is a delight that had me reaching for my needles and digging through my yarn stash more than once.

Amy R. Singer, author of Big Girl Knits and More Big Girl Knits

2-At-A-Time Socks

Adapt your favorite sock pattern to this innovative method of knitting 2 socks at once using a single circular needle!  Melissa Morgan-Oakes offers a way to avoid forever the repetitive boredom of knitting that second sock.  She also gives you 17 great sock patterns to get you started.  So cast on! You'll find fun along with the satisfaction of finishing 2 socks at the same time.

Vintage Baby Knits

Some of the most rewarding knitting any of us do is for babies.  To just sit and think about the little ones with each stitch - these are truly priceless moments.

Kristen Rengren's beautiful collection of heirloom baby knits just made wonderful knitting even better.  Inside is everything you could want: photos of sweet, healthy children wearing lovely, tasteful clothing that you can knit.  Not to mention beautiful blankets, sweet toys, and more.  The sizes are from 3 months to 2 years, and every one of them is a wholesome, practical and beautiful choice for children.  I think this is just what our children need - and it will make every "baby knitter" happy, too.