First Book Review: "Knitting to Share" by Gerard Allt

     I have set-up shop in the Upstate of South Carolina recently and the small town that I am in has a one room library that has an amazing selection of knitting books. Your local library is a great way to try books out if you're thinking about purchasing a particular pattern filled book or one on techniques. If you're retiring good books, donating them to thrift stores is noble but don't forget about your neighborhood library too!
     I wanted to start out my knitting book reviews this week and I will review them as I pick them up and pull ones from my personal library from time to time. I may throw in ones that aren't necessarily about knitting too. If you're often caught with a book in your hands, you'd probably enjoy one of the best online blogs I've stumbled across for literature: Brain Pickings.

     This one is from my personal library:

     Knitting to Share was a gift from my boyfriend's mom one Christmas. This book comes from the foundation of gratitude and community that knitting has come to be known for. Right off the bat, on the cover, one sees this little sticker.

     caretoknit.org

     The book is authored by Gerard Allt who is from London and has 25 patterns in total. The introduction is short, but insightful, and includes overviews of a range of very active organizations which involve knitting to heal a community through charity or knitting for access to clean water and so on.

     Each pattern is sweetly named after an angle and are of attractive, contemporary styles. It is a well rounded selection containing knits for little ones, men, and women. The go-to knits are all there: there's a tam, a beanie, fingerless mitts, baby booties, a softie, socks, sweaters, and even a tea cozy. Allt encourages that the patterns be knitted by individuals and groups for donations, as well as loved ones. Overall, the book contains inspiring designs and leaves one with a warm feeling after purusing its context. I highly recommend this book to beginners as the patterns are simple and is a gateway into what the knitting community is to a lot of people. If anyone else has checked out the Knitting to Share, I'd love to hear what you thought about it!

     This week I also participated in Emily's, of the Fibre Town podcast, ASCPA fundraiser. She's hosting it on her Ravelry group page for a couple of friends who are biking around NYC to raise money for animal shelters. It is for a great cause and involves the opportunity to win great prizes ^_^ , so for any other yarn maidens (and gents!) out there, I recommend checking it out.

I also finished my Treasured Heirloom Baby Blanket! Here's a pic:

     All done! This is the blanket unblocked and off the needles.

     I was a little worried because it looked a little lopsided; but then, the power of blocking came to my rescue...

And here it is blocked.


I really had a good time making this. Very fast at the beginning, a relaxing, though lengthy middle, with a quick wrap up at the end. It's obvious to see why it's such a popular pattern.

It is wrapped up and ready to go to its future owner.








WIPs:

My head is going in so many different directions about what to start now! Definitely a rare problem, and as my Rav queue is over 100 patterns, I really shouldn't be experiencing such a lack of direction. So I have nothing on the needles! I may hunt down and just wrap up forgotten projects that have ended up in the far reaches of yarn cubbies. Some of those include:

Seamless Salomas Slippers
Evenstar Gloves
and a Granny Basket

With a knitting group meet-up coming up this weekend, I will probably op for one of these three. Thank you for coming by this week and I will be back again next Thursday!