The Knitting Way – finishing up!

The Knitting Way

The Knitting Way

In my last post about The Knitting Way, I had read through Chapter 5. I thought I’d read a couple more chapters for the next post, but then I decided that I needed to move on to another book so I motored on and read through the end. This book is very “text heavy” compared to other books I’ve recently reviewed. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as much of the text is thoughtful and well-written. Some of the spiritual parts don’t speak to me in my knitting life as I like to knit while I watch TV and am not that thoughtful as I knit.

The next chapter I covered was about “Making a Daily Practice”. Who doesn’t want to make more time to knit and find more time to do it? I sure do. I could relate to daily practice. They give lots of advice about finding a place and organizing knitting. Also, a good section on how to knit in a pain free manner.

The Mind and Body chapter talks how to connect what happens with your hands and connects with your mind. I love this sentence – “Knitting Sets a graceful rhythm between the hands and mind.”

“Paying it Forward” is a chapter about teaching and mentoring your skills. It mainly comes from the point of teaching kids, but could be adapted for teaching knitting to someone of any age.

Learn-to-Knit Projects

Learn-to-Knit Projects

These easy projects are ideal for beginners. It’s good that the authors give some easy-to-do designs that make learning fun.

Easy Gift/Charity Projects

Easy Gift/Charity Projects

The authors discuss how knitting for charity can not always go well despite good intentions. I was shocked as I always thought that knitting/crochet for charity was based on wanting to find a way to “Pay it Forward”. They give a reality check about how good intentions can go awry.

Top Down Shawls

Top Down Shawls

The Top Down Shawls are the perfect project for my Prayer Shawl Ministry at my church. Good for using up odds and ends of yarn.

The Resources at the end nine plus pages of great books. My only quibble with this resource listing is that there are many new and wonderful books published since 2005. If they ever update the book, this would be a good addition.

Author Page

Author Page

I wanted to end with the final author page that has photos of the authors and brief bios. They have covered a lot of ground in this little, low-budget book. Well done Linda and Janice.

http://www.amazon.com/Knitting-Way-Guide-Spiritual-Self-Discovery-ebook/dp/B00CBY4OMS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423936871&sr=1-1&keywords=the+knitting+way

The Knitting Way – Chapters 4/5

The Knitting Way

The Knitting Way

My journey through The Knitting Way continues. Chapter 4 was such a long chapter that I thought that would be the discussion of this post. Somehow I got momentum going and whizzed through Chapter 5 as well.

The Knitting Way - Chapter 4

The Knitting Way – Chapter 4

 

So Chapter 4 – Once Upon A Time – The Stories of our Projects. This chapter talks about the history of knitting and those who were the historical authorities, discusses Elizabeth Zimmermann’s role in knitting evolution, and personal knitting histories of the authors. I felt very connected to this chapter as it is a world I know and love. The discussion (over 2 pages) on my long-time buddy Kristin Nicholas was delightful. If you don’t know her work, google Kristin. She has written a number of well-thought of books. I might review her latest – Crafting a Colorful Home once I finish this book.

This chapter also features well-known and unknown knitters and their stories from Mary Thomas to Mr. Rogers who wore cardigans knit by his mother. I’m being brief here, but it’s really an in-depth and well-written section.

Chapter 5 - The Bearable Lightness of Knitting

Chapter 5 – The Bearable Lightness of Knitting

The basic premise of this chapter is how not to be a perfectionist knitter and enjoy the process. There is some good advice for what you can do with a disappointing project. Also, knitting with yarns that are not really yarn – ribbon, fabric and even spaghetti!

The Knitting Way - Quad Socks

The Knitting Way – Quad Socks

In Chapter 5, Janice makes easy socks in a light worsted (DK weight) yarn. The idea is that if you have 4 socks you can mix and match and don’t have to worry about losing one or having it wear out. If you have 4 colors of yarn to make the socks, you can mix and match to use up all 4 balls, but ultimately when you finish, they will all be color connected. This is a project I’d like to try.

 

For next week, Chapter 6 is about making time for knitting. This is a pretty long chapter, but I’d like to make it through two chapters once again.

http://www.amazon.com/Knitting-Way-Guide-Spiritual-Self-Discovery-ebook/dp/B00CBY4OMS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423156322&sr=1-1&keywords=the+knitting+way