Go Hawks!
Sorry, had to get that out of my system. My favorite football team, the Iowa Hawkeyes, just beat Iowa State, our rival, which always makes me happy. And, of course, I'm also happy that we have cable now, because otherwise I'd have to find a much more difficult way of getting the play-by-play. And after watching every game for four years as a member of the marching band, well, it's important to see the play-by-play. And the best thing is that the networks are getting better about playing footage of the marching bands and having a microphone on them, which (I think) really improves the broadcast.
And that's enough football, isn't it? Apologies for any tangents I take from now until, oh, early January. I'll try to keep them minimal :)
In other news, um, I didn't knit anything yesterday. But I did read some more of those library books, and some of them were great. I checked out Barbara Walker's fourth Treasury, which is interesting, but a little too much about mosaic knitting for me. There were a lot of great lace patterns, although one was a bit too much like a swastika for my tastes. All in all, I'll be making some notes, and I'd check it out again, maybe photocopy a couple of great patterns, but I wouldn't buy this book unless I found it for $5, which is unlikely.
I also checked out Knitted Shawls, Stoles, & Scarves by Nancie Wiseman, and it's okay. The only thing I would knit out of it is the Lavender Linen Lace Shawl, but if I ever want to do entrelac, her instructions seemed pretty good.
I got another Wiseman book, though, that was interesting: The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques. It covers various cast-ons and bind offs, as well as increases and decreases, seams, picking up stitches, etc. Some of the information was really basic, and in many ways I prefer the articles Knitty has had on cast-ons and bind offs, but I hadn't seen the chained cast-on before. It's a provisional cast-on worked by crocheting a chain over the needle, which eliminates the need to pick up stitches from a crocheted chain. I think I'll definitely use this one. This book is useful, and it's spiral bound, which is a huge plus, but I think a lot of the techniques are adequately covered on the internet. It would be good to have around if you didn't want to have to look things up online, though.
I'll save the other two books for a little later, but they're the two I liked best. Besides, I've got another football game to watch....
And that's enough football, isn't it? Apologies for any tangents I take from now until, oh, early January. I'll try to keep them minimal :)
In other news, um, I didn't knit anything yesterday. But I did read some more of those library books, and some of them were great. I checked out Barbara Walker's fourth Treasury, which is interesting, but a little too much about mosaic knitting for me. There were a lot of great lace patterns, although one was a bit too much like a swastika for my tastes. All in all, I'll be making some notes, and I'd check it out again, maybe photocopy a couple of great patterns, but I wouldn't buy this book unless I found it for $5, which is unlikely.
I also checked out Knitted Shawls, Stoles, & Scarves by Nancie Wiseman, and it's okay. The only thing I would knit out of it is the Lavender Linen Lace Shawl, but if I ever want to do entrelac, her instructions seemed pretty good.
I got another Wiseman book, though, that was interesting: The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques. It covers various cast-ons and bind offs, as well as increases and decreases, seams, picking up stitches, etc. Some of the information was really basic, and in many ways I prefer the articles Knitty has had on cast-ons and bind offs, but I hadn't seen the chained cast-on before. It's a provisional cast-on worked by crocheting a chain over the needle, which eliminates the need to pick up stitches from a crocheted chain. I think I'll definitely use this one. This book is useful, and it's spiral bound, which is a huge plus, but I think a lot of the techniques are adequately covered on the internet. It would be good to have around if you didn't want to have to look things up online, though.
I'll save the other two books for a little later, but they're the two I liked best. Besides, I've got another football game to watch....
posted by Megan at 4:07 PM
4 Comments:
It's all football all the time up here. We rode our bikes up to the stadium this morning, but couldn't find reasonable tickets to see the actual game (read "reasonable" as someone gives them to us). But we had a good time tailgating, and then watching the game on TV... Finally beating those pesky clones. Go Hawks!
Unlike you and Libby, I go out of my way to avoid the football, I'm glad you guys enjoy it, though.
I have the Wiseman book and at first I thought I wouldn't use it a lot, but I find myself turning to it time and time again -- in fact, it pretty much lives on my end table. You don't always need it, but it's nice to have at hand and, for me, a lot handier than the computer when I'm in the midst of something.
Glad the good guys won! Our football watching over here has always been limited to Needville High (baseball is my sport). We've had season tickets for 11 years until this year. I've missed watching the band more than the games. Planning to go to the last home game before marching contest, so I can see this year's show. I think the theme is Dracula. Heard the opener at last spring's concert. Sounded good!
What is mosaic knitting? And HEY! Where's your link to MY blog?!
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