A Book Review

Today's review will be on the book Toilet Roll Covers by Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer.

I found the pig on the cover to be too cute to resist. I never thought I would knit a toilet roll cover, I do not particularly like pigs, I do not like pink very much but I have to admit the pig made me pick up the book.

It has 30 designs in knit and crochet although most are knit. It has the ubiquitous Techniques section and also has general instructions on the different ways to construct: bottom up, top down, sideways. What I particularly liked about the instructions section was the different ways to get the circle as part of the design without it looking clumsy. That made me carry the book to the checkout counter.

My favorite design: The sheep (Woolly Winner), even though I do not really crochet much.

Most likely to actually make: The pig (Perfect Piggy), who could resist?

Least favorite: the graduate (Degree of Success). I'm not fond of the parka man (Chilly Charlie), either. I do like Humpty Dumpty, which makes me laugh for some reason.

Other features that makes me pleased with this book: The Table of Contents pages have the pictures of the designs labeled to go with the "chapters". Also, just above where you would put your thumb to thumb through the pages, that is where the page numbers are. Genius.

You can buy it HERE, HERE, and HERE, as well as at your local book store.

It has been awhile. Last summer I moved half of my things 10 driving hours away from the home I have known for more than a long time. This took a lot of organizing and sorting, packing, unpacking, rescuing, repacking, loading, unloading, unpacking, and organizing. Not to mention the hours I spent looking for something I was sure I brought with me but could not find.

Amid all this, I decided I would start a blog, if I ever found my sanity again. Well, in the winter there was a lull in my activity; I was back at my accustomed home and I set up and made my first and only entry.

I had an idea to do book reviews since one of my hobbies is reading books about my hobbies. I thought I would have to find a library in my new location but I was wrong.

I didn’t realize how many books I have devoted to my interests. Here they are in order:

Crochet: 4 and a How-to CD

Rugs and Braiding: 4

Paper Arts/Painting: 5

Spinning: 8

Dollhouse:15

Jewelry/Beading: 21

Dollmaking: 21

Basketry: 26

Quilting/Sewing/Embroidery: 38

Knitting/Felting/Dying:83

Yeah. That is 225 books.

I set a goal of a book review a month. I selected my first book and I am waiting to hear from the authors if I may post a picture of its cover. Now I am off to do what I call "triage". That is, I sort pending projects and organize a queue. Immediate projects are ones with deadlines. Next in importance are those which will leave me the most space when they are finished. I guess that means I will not be knitting socks this summer.

A Beginning

Where I wish I was right now.

Instead, I am home, thinking about unfinished knitting, spinning that I should be doing, and thinking also about reviewing my favorite knitting books. Any of those things might be fun, but I'm also beginning this new form of organizing my thoughts.

This blog is something that grew from my membership on Ravelry. I haven't organized my projects, listed my yarns, counted my needles, or any of that stuff. I got sidetracked by the part of the set up that said something about linking to a blog. A blog?

This is my second blog in two days. No, not second entry, but second blog. I trashed the first one when {it doesn't matter, really does it? And by the way, I can't figure out how to draw strike-out lines through what I want to not say yet I want to type the way the Yarn Harlot does. You know, those strike-out lines compel me to read what she has crossed through. I think she KNOWS that and is toying with me.}