Knit in New Directions by Myra Wood

 

This is a new book – I had not had a chance to look at it before I ordered it - but I could tell from the cover that it was my sort of book.

I haven’t read it all yet – but I have looked at the pictures!  That is the most important part of a book for me.  I had never heard of Myra Wood but then she has probably never heard of me! 

The book contains about 21 designs including variations of tops, cardigans, jumpers and bags using various modular knitting techniques.  Some involve mitred shapes but others are more abstract and are like knitted crazy patchwork.

A lot of modular knitting is really strip knitting – where strips of shapes are joined together but this book places a lot of emphasis on filling a garment template with shapes – I found the work with triangles particularly interesting.

Myra Wood recommends making templates as a basis for designs (as Horst Schulz does in his books) – I think I am too lazy for that – I tend to use an existing garment that fits me as a template.  However I did once use a template for a circular cushion.

I showed the book to my mother who is not a fan of modular knitting.  She thought most of the designs were too garish and not something she would wear.  This reaction made me question whether I have become used to modular knitting being very brightly coloured but also I looked at the designs as a way of knitting a garment and would be unlikely to use the same colours.  Although I occasionally do it – it is rare that I use the colours or even the yarn used by a designer.  I usually can’t leave the design alone either!

So in conclusion – I am sure that other modular knitting fans will enjoy this book – especially those who like detailed instructions on how to complete a design.

 

What Kind of Knitter are you?

It may seem obvious to say knitters are not all the same – but knitters are often either product knitters or process knitters, and some are scientists who are good at maths and others are more interested in colour.

When I was young and had few clothes and little money – I was a product knitter – knitting things to wear, but I am really a process knitter – it is the process of knitting that I enjoy and so now I am quite happy to knit for other people and give away the results.  I also think that is why I now find it easier to rip out and reknit things. 

When I joined a knitting group I realised that many of the other members were scientists or people who were good at maths.  They found working with colour quite difficult.  Whereas I have always found working with colour easy – it is maths that is difficult!  I found it a real struggle at school but remember that there was a topic called Tessellation - which I found easy.  It didn’t seem to me to involve maths at all but was about fitting shapes together – that kind of maths I could do!

I have started reknitting the Noro Kogarashi yarn that I wrote about previously and the photo below shows my sample square.

 

Multi-coloured yarns like this can help those who find choosing colours difficult.  They are also quite therapeutic for me as I don’t have to think too much about which colour to use next.  I am still not happy to use the yarn as it comes and find it hard not to cut it and join it again to spread the colours differently across the knitting.

An Unloved Cardigan

I have been wondering what to do with a cardigan that I knitted last year.  I tried it on again and decided it looked awful.  The yarn was expensive – Noro Kogarashi - I bought it after seeing it in a magazine.  I knitted a design which had been specially written for the yarn but it didn’t turn out well.  I unravelled it fairly soon afterwards and thought I would try again.  I looked about for a plain chunky cardigan pattern and found one that I adapted at bit to produce the second version of the cardigan which is shown below.

 

This cardigan is no more.  I have unravelled it again and am hoping for third time lucky.  This time I am going to make a modular knitted cardigan.  I fancy trying out a design with quite large squares – probably combining them with some smaller ones so that I can make the cardigan longer than it is wide.

Hopefully in a few weeks time I will have a wearable cardigan to show you.