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A New Review!Posted by on Thursday 1 November, 2007 01:39 PM
The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book has received an excellent review on Knitter's Review this week! Clara writes, "Instructions are clear and accessible, and they really do give you a sense of infinite and achievable possibility. Strong technique and recommended readings sections round out the book well". You can read the full review here. Another Excellent Book FairPosted by on Monday 22 October, 2007 02:13 PM Last year Lifeline started holding a second hand book fair, the first one was so successful that they decided to hold two per year. I went last April, and we thought we'd have another look over the weekend. I didn't expect to find anything but boy, was I wrong! I ended up spending about $50 on some excellent finds. Considering that a decent knitting book can cost that (or more) in Australia, I'm very happy with my new purchases! From right to left: * A hard cover copy of Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns, 1973. I'm giving my paperback copy to a friend as I like this binding better (it's bigger). This is a stitch and technique dictionary, originally published in 1943. As well as stitches, it also contains excellent information on knitting shapes from the centre out, which is really handy if you want to design your own doilies and counterpane motifs. * Creative Textile Craft. A Batsford book from the creative play series. This is mostly a picture book with creative ways to make arty effects with string and loosely woven fabric. * Heritage Crochet: An Analysis by Mary Konior. Water damaged a little bit (the pages are wavy) but I was really after the information about antique crochet patterns and how to translate them into modern crochet language. This will be a fascinating read. It has some lovely patterns too. * The Dryad Book of Bobbin Lace. Bobbin lace is on my list of stuff to learn to do. * Make Your Own Rugs by Nancy Robb. I didn't get to look through this one before I bought it (for 50 cents) and it didn't have the info I was looking for so I'm going to re-donate it. * Tassels & Trimmings by Effie Mitrofanis. This book was a nice surprise. I thought it would just be about regular tassels (and I already have a great book about those) but it also has unusual things like fabric tassels, lots of ways to dress up store bought trimmings, braids and fancy knots. My favourite thing about this book is that it makes use of a lot of household bits and pieces rather than having to go out and buy fancy turned wooden tops for every tassel. * Creative Machine Embroidery by Kristen Dibbs. (Signed by the author) This has a couple of interesting projects like machine embroidered bangles and spider web lace. I mostly bought it for technique ideas rather than the projects. Machine sewn smocking is something I want to try. A little old fashioned considering it's from 2000, but it contains enough interesting ideas and projects to play with. * Making Embroidered Bags and Purses by Gisela Banbury and Angela Dewar. I don't like the sample projects much, but this book has some good solid, basic patterns that can be reworked in a large number of original ways. I like this book for the versatility of the patterns. I'm going to use it as a jumping-off point rather than a pattern book. * Machine Embroidery for the Home by Corliss Miller. Lots of interesting techniques to try in this one. * The Fused Glass Handbook by Gil Reynolds. Fused glass and lampwork are two more things I'd like to try. * Virginia Avery's Hats, a Heady Affair. My love of knitting hats is no secret. This book has lots of sewing patterns for basic hats that you can use to make totally original pieces. The samples are far too 1990's to make as they are, but the basic shapes are good and there's a lot of solid technical info. * The Treasure Chest of Swedish Weaving by Ingerlise Skjoldebrand. A nice book of weaving projects (loom weaving) but the technical info on some of the projects is a little sparse. I want to make some rya woven cushion cover using the rya rug instructions from this book as a guide but I think I'm going to have to break out Peter Collingwood's rug weaving book in order to be able to understand the knotting technique. It does have some very pretty projects though. * Salish Weaving by Paula Gustafson. The history and (basic) technique of Salish weaving. Should be an interesting read. * The Gentle Needle Arts. A Golden Hands publication. I nearly didn't look at this one because I find Golden Hands publications a little too retro-tacky (not retro-kitsch, which is good. Retro-tacky, which is bad). However, the word "Daisywork" on the cover caught my eye so I had a look. I would have missed out on some lovely knitted lace pieces if I hadn't bought it! Not only that but it also has excellent looking directions for basic netting (very basic but clear), and some nice needle lace and crochet patterns. I'm also very tempted to make the macrame "Owl and Pussycat" but that may be because of my love of Edward Lear, rather than good taste. * 1001 Illuminated Initial Letters by Owen Jones. 27 pages of fancy monograms. Might come in handy for embroidery. * Bright Knits for Kids by Debbie Bliss. Initially I wasn't sure if I had this, but it turns out that I didn't. Some nice garments in case I'm ever an auntie again. * Principles of Garment Cutting by E. L. G. Gough.1940. I have a strange fascination for vintage garment cutting books. Don't ask why because I don't know. I suppose it's because I like to know how stuff works. I do have a modern book on drafting sewing patterns but I do like to see how vintage garments were cut as well. I mean really, you never know when you might need to sew yourself a Coachman's cape, do you? (VBG) * Weldon's Encyclopedia of Needlework. Not dated but it's from the late 30's, early 40's. I already had a copy of this but it's all beaten up so now I have a nice copy for my vintage book collection and a beat up copy for using. It has a lovely knitted lace scarf design in it, a really nice fair isle pullover and two knitted doilies, among many other patterns for almost any needlework technique you can think of. Almost :) It also has lots of sock knitting technique and a nice little collection of stitch patterns. And that's my score from the recent Lifeline book fair! I may be too busy reading and weaving and sewing and macrame-ing to go back next year! :P They're Here!Posted by on Friday 21 September, 2007 12:45 PM The proof copies of my Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book arrived at last
and the quality of the printing is as good as I had hoped so I released them for sale. Now you can have one too! I'm selling all three versions through my shop at lulu.com. Click the links to find out more: Pdf download US$22.95 Spiral bound US$29.95 Perfect bound US$29.95 Squee Alert.Posted by on Wednesday 19 September, 2007 08:39 AM My test prints of The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book were cleared by customs in Sydney this morning and as of an hour and a half ago they were on their way to the Sydney GPO for sorting. Hopefully I'll get them tomorrow or Friday at the latest. I don't expect any problems with the printing as I've worked out margin and gutter sizes for books before, but keep your fingers crossed that they pass muster and I can release them for sale! -tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap- <Whiny Voice> On Their Way!Posted by on Sunday 16 September, 2007 08:40 AM I received confirmation from Lulu.com yesterday that my books have been mailed and according to the live help person I should have them sometime from Wednesday to Friday (since I paid for super fast express post). Here's how they were doing at the time I wrote this: Package Progress
Tracking results provided by UPS: 09/15/2007 6:42 P.M. ET Would it be terribly unprofessional of me to go "squee"? Sometimes I Feel Like I Have ADD or Something...Posted by on Thursday 13 September, 2007 11:21 AM Seriously though, I don't have ADD, I'm just totally out of practice with editing my website (and concentrating on anything) after spending three and a half months spending every waking moment sewing the suffolk puff quilt. So, having said that, here's what's flitting around my brain at the moment! First of all I had an urge to blend some of the fibres from my stash.
I started by drum carding 400gms of fine merino/baby alpaca that my sister gave me. It was already carded and mixed in the packet but the two fibres weren't blended together much so I put it through the drum carder once to mix it up a bit. I'm not going to spin it yet because I haven't decided what to make with it. Next I decided to card together some "little bits and pieces" in order to turn them into a usable amount of yarn. I took some absolutely divine natural coloured combed merino tops that Jenny from Virginia Farm Woolworks sent me as a sample when I bought my cotton hand cards and lace whorl from her last year. This stuff is so divinely soft, it's amazing. It had been sitting in my stash awaiting a project that would do justice to it, but I couldn't figure out what to use it for because there was such a tiny amount. It suddenly occurred to me last night that I should combine it with some silk that my sister gave me, because the silk had been sitting around for exactly the same reason.
This is the result. I ended up combining pale grey and dark grey tops from Virginia Farm, a scrap of 22 micron merino (about 10-15 grams I had left from a 1.5 kilo bag!) also from Virginia Farm, 10 grams each of blue, dark brown, medium brown, burgundy and gold silk, and 5-10 grams each of several other shades of brown silk. I ended up with 120gm of gorgeous light as air wool/silk, about 50/50 in volume. I'm going to spin this laceweight. It's so incredibly light that I should be able to get some amazing yardage out of it. Have a closeup.
I envision that it will change colour slowly as I spin, but I better not think about it too much right now or I'll find myself having started another project :P And it is soooo tempting to start more projects around here because look what has arrived in the post over the last 3 or 4 weeks! I was browsing ebay a couple of weeks ago when I saw an amazing crochet book from 1946. I felt it was far too expensive considering I couldn't look at it (over $30 including postage) so I had a look at abebooks.com just in case there was a copy for sale. It was a long shot considering the book is so old, but I found a copy for $3! Including postage from the US, it ended up costing me roughly AUD$12 and now that I've seen it, I would have to say it was worth the $30 I saw it for on ebay. :-) It's called "The Complete Book of Crochet" by Elizabeth Laird Matheson and was published by Greystone Press in 1946 (mine is a 1947 reprint) It's full of amazing doilies and tablecloths like these
and also has some really incredible deco style pot holders. At the time of writing this there are 5 copies available on abebooks, if you love vintage crochet go and snap one up! If that weren't distracting enough, I also found this tatting book from the 1950's on abebooks with about a zillion edgings and several doilies that I want to make:
and this booklet that I want to add to the knitting wiki:
That one came from an auction site (not ebay). This book did come from ebay though :) Una-na dolls. It's in Japanese but, having had a thorough look at it, that won't be a problem as it has great instructional illustrations.. I fell totally in love with these dolls when I saw the book on ebay and I can't wait to make one! But I will wait because I'm feeling overwhelmed by all the projects I have on the go, and by how far behind I am on updating the website. Speaking of which, I found something new to add :P We went to visit my Dad on the weekend to deliver his father's day present (it arrived a week late but he loves it so that's cool). He gave me this scrapbook that he bought at an antique shop. He'd purchased it for an article that it had about a steam engine, however the rest of the scrapbook is about spiritualism and since he has no interest in it he gave the rest of the book to me.
The entries date from 1907-1930 and it contains letters, the owner's thoughts on the upcoming war (WWI), photographs, prayer cards and many articles about spiritualism, ghosts, clairvoyants and possession. It's incredibly fascinating so I'll be adding that to the site as well. In an attempt to get back into the swing of things, I'm off to do the housework. Then I'm going to start work on adding the new categories to the website. I intend to put the framework for the new sections up with a single article each, upload those and then add an article at least once a fortnight to each section. To recap what I have said in earlier posts the new sections will be: Hairpin lace I need staff :P The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book is Now Available!Posted by on Wednesday 12 September, 2007 02:41 PM You can now purchase the pdf version of The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book from my Lulu store at http://stores.lulu.com/knittingand! Printed versions will be available in approximately 2 weeks, after I had a chance to view the test copies. :-) I'm So Excited!Posted by on Monday 10 September, 2007 02:57 PM I just received the ISBN's for the spiral bound and PDF versions of The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book (2nd Expanded Edition). I'm so excited! You'd think that writing a book stops when you've finished the writing but there's a lot more involved when you decide to self publish. Even after knitting a couple of hundred hats, working out the equations needed to write the patterns in 17 sizes, writing patterns that people who hate maths can happily use, taking lots of photos, laying out the book and creating the initial pdf file to give the printer there's still more to do!
I'm currently waiting for my cataloguing in publication data (up to 10 days) and then I'll purchase my sample copy. No doubt I will go squeeeeee all over the place when I see the first printed copy :) If you have a podcast, a popular blog or publish a magazine (online or print) and would like a review copy please let me know your postal address and I'll post them out as soon as I get them. This is Getting ComplicatedPosted by on Monday 16 July, 2007 09:05 AM First of all, let me say that none of the following will delay the release of The Any yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book in spiral binding or downloadable pdf. This will only delay the publication of the perfect bound paperback and release through Amazon.com. You'll still be able to buy the spiral bound and pdf versions through lulu.com as soon as I have my ISBNs and have purchaed a test copy. <RANT> I live in Australia where we have a relatively simple tax system for everyday folks. One form, everybody fills in the same one. Businesses get a bit trickier but as long as you've kept decent financial records everything will be apples. As most fibre artists in Australia who manage to eek out a minor living in their field, I'm listed as a sole trader so my personal and business taxes are done together as a single form and as long as I remembered to pay my taxes in the first place it's usually painless (even if I have to spend today going through my receipts. Note to self: If you have a decent refund spend some on MYOB so you don't have to do this next year). BUT! Then I met the US Internal Revenue Service and realised why most people in the US seem to wait until the last minute to do their taxes. Since I purchased a distribution package for the perfect bound edition of my book, I need to register to pay tax in the US as part of a tax treaty between the US and Australia. If I register 5% of my royalties are held to pay tax in the US, if I don't register then 30% of my royalties are held. Fill in form W-8ben with an ITIN and you'll be right, says Lulu.com OK, that seems simple enough, even though I don't know what an ITIN is at this stage. Hmmm, the IRS says I have to apply for an ITIN as a non resident alien. So I download that form as well. It says to send along some photo ID and other things with your application and we'll think about it for 6 weeks and if you never hear from us you can ask what happened. Crap. I don't drive and I don't have a passport so I don't have any photo ID. Getting my passport is out of the question because a British passport costs AUD$310 and I don't have that kind of money lying around. Next option: A national ID card. OK, I can get one of those for $50 and the cost of photos (whatever that's going to be). So I send off an email to get the forms to apply for one of those. But I'll still need a second form of ID. A Civil birth certificate is an option. I have a birth certificate but I don't know what a "civil" birth certificate is. Crap. I thought Americans spoke English. So now I have to look up whether "civil birth certificate" refers only to a US birth certificate or whether I can use my UK birth certificate. I get 2,441 results from the IRS database. Hmmm. I search google instead. OK, apparently it just means the most official version of your birth certificate and not birth records. OK, I have that. Now I just have to spend the next 2 weeks gathering all this stuff, getting photos taken, get my keypass ID card, copy everything, get the copies witnessed by a justice of the peace, send them all off to the US to maybe get an international tax ID number so I can fill in the w-8ben, send that to lulu.com, then I can purchase a test copy of the perfect bound edition of my book and if that's OK I can release it for sale and then a month or two later it should turn up on Amazon.com and then I get to put my details in and maybe people will see it. Now does that seem rather complicated in order to sell a book or am I just terribly naive? </RANT> Now here's something that's challenging but not at all confusing.
Four more squares for my suffolk puff/yo-yo coverlet. Now I'm off to sort out my receipts and finish doing my taxes...
Kids Knit! in AustraliaPosted by on Monday 30 April, 2007 08:53 AM I just found a cool book website for Aussies thanks to another Aussie blogger (sorry, I forgot which one!) If you are in Australia and would like to purchase my book, "Kids Knit!" you can purchase it from fishpond.com.au and if you spend over $50 you get free shipping!
My Hat BookPosted by on Monday 4 July, 2005 04:08 PM Just a quick note to say that my hat book will be temporarily unavailable as my sister is closing down her fibre supplies business. I'm currently looking into other ways to distribute it and it will be available again at a later date. If you're desperate for a copy please contact me through the "contacts" page. |
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