Other Resources

Local Yarn Stores & Catalog

Fortunately we live in an area that has several yarn shops, but my favorites are “Sally’s Yarn Shop”in Wadsworth, Ohio.   Sally has a great supply of knitting books and yarn.  However, if you want to make a trip to Sally’s, please call ahead to make sure that she will be there.  The other shop that is visited is “Stitch, Piece ‘n Purl“, which is located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and is owned by Ileen Rissmiller.  The web site is www.stitchpiecenpurl.com

There are other sources that are helpful to knitters and that is catalogues.  One that I have found very useful is the Knit Picks Catalog, which comes out 4 times a year.  This company is committed to affordable luxury knitting and believe me these catalogs are not thrown away.  I found that the Knit Pick’s  wooden 2 pointed needles are excellent for knitting lace doilies as they have very sharp points, more about that later.    There was an excellent review of this catalog  in “Knitter’s Review”   www.knittersvreview.com/ in 2005/2007 regarding the good prices they offer on their yarns.  Knit Picks also have very nice kits and excellent book offers.  The web site for this company is www.KnitPicks.com If you go to their website, you will find that they also have free patterns that can be downloaded.

Another catalogue that was recently obtained is “Patternworks” which is also impressive and so far 2 lace scarf patterns have been ordered from them..  This catalog is for hand knitters and crocheters and their web site is www.patternworks.com

KNITTING BOOKS
As mentioned above one of the main reasons that this Blog is being written was to pass on information about some of the books that have been very helpful.  One of the first books that was purchased was “HOMESPUN HANDKNIT”Caps, Socks, and Mittens & Gloves.  The book was edited by Linda Ligon.  What a treasure this book is and, in fact, it was used so much that it finally simply fell apart and each page was punched and put in a notebook.  “HOMESPUN HANDKNIT” came about due to a contest sponsored by Spin Off Magazine in 1985.  Spinners and knitters submitted their favorite knit patterns for small projects.  Some of the women who entered were spinners and some were not.  The knit patterns are outstanding as they had been designed for people who were loved.  As the Preface stated you can buy commercially produced caps, socks and mittens, but you can knit a cap that matches your daughter’s eyes, which definitely makes the cap much more personal.  To go back to the beginning of this Blog, many items are knitted or crocheted for members of the family or friends and it is done with love.  My friend Marilyn who is a crocheter, has made a tablecloth for each one of her children.  And my friend Faye, who is also a crocheter, has made baby blankets and knitted many other items for family members.  A lot of loving energy goes into such items.

From what I understand when this book was recommended to a customer, she had a very difficult time finding the book, so it may not be in circulation any more.  But if you can find it, it is definitely a gem.  Many items have been knitted  such as caps, hooded scarves, a lace double cap, matching hat and scarf, and one of my favorites was the Mushroom Cap & Mittens.   In the beginning again I looked to this book as a teacher as I learned how many yards of yarn make a pound, yards per ounce, wraps per inch and the use of 1 fine yarns that will make a fatter yarn.  I was learning the way a spinner thinks about yarn.

As mentioned many items were knitted from the patterns in this book and following you will notice the picture     of  the grey and white mittens to the left that were taken from a pattern from the “HOMESPUN HANDKNIT book.  However, the black mittens to the right are the same pattern, only black yarn and black and white trim was knitted into the cuff and then ear warmers were knitted to match the mittens.  This book allows your imagination to develop new ideas on how to change a pattern and come up with something that is original.  Also, may of the yarn shops have great trims that can be combined with yarns to totally change a pattern.

Also one of the nicest and warmest hats in the books was designed by Janet Russell, who lived in windy Chicago and she needed a warm hat to wear in the winter.  Chicago is known as the windy city as the wind blows in off of Lake Michigan.  Ms. Russell came with this wonderful design that is reversible.  One side is lace and the other side is plain knit, and you can add your name to the hat.  This was a fun hat to knit as  it allows lace knitting to plain knitting.