Monday, April 10, 2006

'Borg, Bernat, and Betty

The first Ingeborg sleeve is coming along:

Ingeborg - first sleeve, April 10, 2006


I'm keeping it relatively snug (though not form fitting) for now, because I know I'm going to want to block it out later. Blocking it a bit wider will help the colorwork and fabric evenness, and I don't want the sleeve to be too loose on me. (Also, I have pretty wimpy forearms.) I'm keeping track of my increase frequency, so sleeve 2 will match.


I went to my library's semi-annual book sale (donated books to raise money, not library books) this weekend, and made a great knitting find. In fact, it was the only knitting book I found. (I kept mostly to the crafty and cooking books, because it was hard to imagine buying a novel or scholarly non-fiction type book when I was standing in a library full of books I could read for free.) It's a Bernat book from 1945, with over 50 awesome patterns by Alice Carroll. There is a page at the beginning describing their goals and methods in putting this book together. They were aiming for a pattern collection that would represent classic styles and stitch patterns, and they sure achieved it. I'd happily knit most of the patterns in the book, 61 years later. I'm thrilled with this find. Take a look at the cover:

vintage Bernat booklet
I love that I bought the book for the original price. :-D


I also borrowed Knitting Around (by Elizabeth Zimmermann). I've never read any of her work, and boy am I impressed. In fact, I'm almost done with the book. The patterns are unique and clever, and her "digressions" are amazing. Not only is she a great writer, but she led such an interesting life. I've had people recommend her books to me before, and I wish I'd started reading her work sooner. I highly recommend this one to all of you.

5 Comments:

Blogger Becki said...

Knitter's Almanac by EZ is also hilarious. There are moments when I find myself literally laughing out loud.

I am SO jealous of that book. If ever you wish to part with it, I'll send you money or do a trade.

4/10/2006 12:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh! I am so jealous; I love vintage knitting books, especially the 50-cent kind.

--sockpal!

4/10/2006 6:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a great find!

EZ and Meg Swansen are heroes. Like the commenter above me, I'd recommend trying to find one of EZ's videos. She drops her needles, talks to people off camera, but still manages to get some fantastic info across. She's uniformly charming.

4/10/2006 9:22 PM  
Blogger Theresa said...

EZ is definitely great reading. Never made anything her way, but I think I'm a better person for having read them.

4/11/2006 8:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Knitting Almanac is a great read, too. I keep it by my bedside and reread it often.

4/11/2006 8:37 AM  

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