The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood

This week I have finished reading The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood.  It is not a new book – my paperback copy was published in 2008. I have had the book for ages but not read it and then I read a review of it on the Knitting Squirrel blog.

I am not sure what I thought about it really.  It was OK but I prefer a detective story.  It reminded me of the book “How to Make an American Quilt” or the Blossom Street books of Debbie Macomber.  It is about a group of (mainly) women who meet regularly to knit.  They all have problems which are helped by knitting and by talking to the others.   I think the book could be enjoyed by people who have no interest in knitting.  The main character has been overwhelmed by the sudden death of her child and learning to knit is a distraction and meeting new people who do not know about her problems is helpful to her.

I find that knitting can help you deal with problems – it can be soothing but it can also been quite stressful when it is not going right or you have a deadline to meet.

I hope that next week I will be able to write about some knitting that I have done.  I have gone back to the Christmas jacket and would like to get it finished soon.

Christmas Jacket

I have made a start on my Christmas jacket.  Generally I am not keen on Christmas jumpers – but we are encouraged to wear one at work during December – so I thought I would have a go at making one.  Rather than doing something silly – I thought I would knit the Patricia Werner Mola Jacket pattern which I used earlier in the year as inspiration for my English Adventure throws.

These shapes are much smaller than those I used for the throws.  I thought the sparkly yarn was ideal to create a kind of Christmas bauble effect.  I am mainly using Stylecraft Cabaret which is a DK yarn with a plain green for the background colour.  I am using oddments of other sparkly yarns for the linking pieces.

So far I have completed most of the pieces for the back of the jacket.

It may be some days before I get on to the fronts as I have been asked to knit some more tea cosies.

Baby Marble Jacket

I have finished this baby jacket.  It only took just over a week to complete.  It is for a baby called Imogen who was born last weekend.  It is not very small – so it should still fit her!

I like this yarn so much that I have gone out and bought some more for another baby jacket that I have said I would make for a little girl in Australia.  She will be about 4 months old when she receives it – so I have bought 2 balls to make sure I have enough.  I think I will try one of the other patterns in the Peter Pan booklet -  Babies in Cream.

I like this type of yarn – it does not form a pattern and you have to make some decisions about how to use it.  For example I wanted to fronts to be completely different.  If you are not careful  - the fronts can not quite match and it can look as if you have made a mistake.

I am still knitting a scarf as an easy portable project but I have just started another modular knitted garment.  This time it is intended to be a Jacket to wear at work for Christmas – so I had better get on with it.

Another Baby’s Jacket

I have just started knitting another baby’s jacket.  It is urgent because the baby is due this week.

The yarn is James C Brett’s Baby Marble double knit which is 100% acrylic – in shade BM24.  It is mainly pink and yellow but it has a little bit of blue as well.  I chose it to make the knitting more interesting.

The same applies to the pattern which is from a Peter Pan booklet called Babies in Cream.  This booklet contains lots of little jackets, jumpers and hats for babies and children up to age 7. 

I chose this particular design because I liked the “rib” pattern.