Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Principles of Knitting and some sage advice

In the absence of knitting and while trying to avoid yarn purchasing, I've been trying to keep my fabric collection from raging out of control. This has mostly been a futile endeavour, so I've turned my attention to expanding my book collection. There has been a lot of chat online about the republished Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt, so I asked my wonderful local bookshop, Hunting Raven, to see if they could track a copy down for me.

They were successful, and I've been enjoying reading it ever since. It's a weighty tome, with more than 700 pages and covers all aspects of hand knitting. I've not finished reading, so I'm not aiming to write a full review here, but the first chapter in particular seemed apt...

Chapter 1 covers knitting methods, describing in great detail the different ways to hold and tension yarn and the direction of work, etc... I was unsurprisingly struck by Hiatt's assertion at the end of the first column of text that, "I strongly recommend that every knitter consider learning at least two methods; three is even better." She points out that only working in one way leaves us open to injury or fatigue, and that the possibilities opened by having two or three methods available to you are highly valuable.

Oh how I wish I had read this advice 6 months ago!

I'm grappling with learning to hold the yarn in my left hand. It's fairly slow progress at the moment, but perseverance and a strong desire to be able to knit will doubtless see me through! I've been using my mouse with my left hand for nearly 3 weeks now, and it is starting to feel quite natural, so I'm sure the same will be true of knitting.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy reading all about knitting, and hopefully will pick up some more excellent advice from this book. I'll aim for a more detailed review once I've reached the end!

Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt
Published by Touchstone (Simon and Schuster)
ISBN: 978-1-4165-3517-1
RRP: $45.00 (US)/ $49.99 (Can)/ My copy was £33.99 (UK) 

Over-excited!

This is just a really short post as I'm up to my eyeballs in preparation for the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace next week. I'll be there for the whole week, working on the Fyberspates stand. So if you come to the show, please be sure to stop by and say hello!

I'm sorry for the delay in the next installment of the series of posts on Illustrator. It will come, but not until after the show.

In the meantime, my work on A Stitch in Time 2 is complete, and Susan has shown me parts of her black and white print-out copy. I am so completely ridiculously excited about this book that I can barely contain myself. Printing will take some time still as it is such a mamouth book (it weighs 1.8kg!!), but if you haven't already ordered it, then do. Seriously. It is epic in its brilliance.

Bits and bobs (books)

I received a brilliant parcel from Amazon this week.

I had ordered the photography book that Franklin Habit recommended on the course I did at Knit Nation. It's the Ultimate Field Guide to Photography from National Geographic, and it looks absolutely brilliant. I'm going to make time to do some serious reading and practising - I'm determined to get better project photos! Practise makes perfect and all that.

The book contains all sorts of useful information, including some basic Photoshop tutorials, so I plan to get totally stuck in to my photography study very shortly.

The other book I received was The Knitting Pocket Bible by Mimi Hill. Now clearly, I don't need a beginner's guide to knitting! However, I do end up teaching lots of other people to knit, so it's nice to know what's out there in beginner knitting guides. I like to be able to recommend books that I've actually read, rather than just suggesting an Amazon search. I'll admit bias, as I know Mimi through her online alter-ego Eskimimi, but I really do think that she has done a super job with this book.

 
I settled down and read the first chapter last night, and found it completely charming. It's enthusistic and laugh out loud funny in places, whilst also being really informative. Mimi's love of knitting and the current knitting community really shines through her writing.

This is the Vivianne Scarf (Photograph © Eskimimi)

The book also contains some beginner knitting projects, but they wouldn't be dull for experienced knitters either. In fact, I've queued both the lovely Vivanne Lace Scarf (knitted in Skein Queen Blush - yum!) and Holly's Handwarmers (they will be mine!). I'm just hoping for some spare minutes to use knitting them in the near future.

And how sweet are these Holly's Handwarmers? (Photograph © Eskimimi)

So even if you're an experienced knitter, I think this book is worth a place on your bookshelf. I might buy another copy for lending out...