Blog tour: Ethnic Knitting Exploration, by Donna Druchunas

Today we're a stop on Donna Druchunas's blog tour, celebrating the release of her new book, Ethnic Knitting Exploration: Lithuania, Iceland, and Ireland. In honor of the blog tour, I'm going to do a quick review of the book.

Donna's book is the second in her "Ethnic Knitting" series, a slightly different kind of knitting book designed to arm the knitter with technical information rather than entice her with color photographs. As she explains in the introduction:

While differing in details, ethnic knits share a few common traits. Most are knitted in the round using double-pointed and circular needles. They are knitted without line-by-line instructions or written patterns. Each item is a unique combination of pattern stitches and colors, made using traditional knitting techniques. The stitch patterns are passed on to new knitters by families and friends.

Acoordingly, Ethnic Knitting Exploration focuses on giving the knitter the tools to design her own sweater, loosely based on motifs and techniques used in the focus countries (here, Lithuania, Iceland and Ireland):

Chapter 1 explains three basic sweater shapes, raglan, yoke and saddle-shoulder sweaters, showing how these three shapes differ from the drop-shoulder sweater, and showing general proportions for each shape. Gauge, sizing and ease are also covered briefly.

Chapter 2 covers basic skills that the newer knitter may not know: tips for knitting in the round, how to knit with the "magic loop" method and two circulars, estimating yarn quantities and explaining yarn weights, increases, decreases, various ways to sew seams, short-row techniques, and how to center patterns.

Chapter 3 is inspired by Lithuanian knitting traditions, and begins with an overview of folk traditions in Lithuania. Two techniques are introduced: making striped ribbing, and how to work with multiple colors by stranding yarn. Several traditional borders and motifs are charted, and then you'll find blueprints for three projects: fingerless gloves, and two raglans. (I call them "blueprints" because they aren't set patterns, but rather walk you through creating your own pattern with your own yarn and sizing information, picking the specific charts and motifs yourself.)

Chapters 4 and 5 follow a similar format: Chapter 4 is devoted to Icelandic knitting, and begins with a brief overview of Icelandic knitting traditions; skills covered are how to knit with unspun Icelandic yarn and how to fit patterns on a yoke; several borders and motifs are charted; then blueprints are provided for a capelet, a yoke pullover, and a yoke cardigan. Chapter 5 begins with an overview of Irish knitting traditions, then instructs the reader on cables, bobbles, charting cables and some tips on Aran sweater design; several cable patterns are provided, and then blueprints for a poncho and two aran-style saddle shoulder sweaters.

The last chapter is devoted to issues raised by cardigans: specifically, how to knit them given that they require an opening down the front, making adaptations of some kind necessary if you knit in the round. You'll find a section discussing steeking, how to knit a cardigan back-and-forth in one piece, and tips for working cardigans in pieces and seaming them. Tips on buttonholes and neckbands are provided, too.

There's a lot of information packed into this book, and if you are a relatively inexperienced knitter searching for a nonthreatening way to stretch your wings and learn a bit more about design and ethnic traditions, this book will help walk you through some of the things you need to know. It is not a "pattern" book per se: there are no set patterns to follow line-by-line, and you will have to have some imagination as you won't find photographs of the finished project, since each person's choices will dictate what the finished item looks like. But for someone ready to test the waters of designing their own garments (specifically raglan, yoke and saddle shoulder sweaters), and playing with some ethnic-inspired motifs, or for those who would like to create an heirloom-style sweater that is uniquely theirs, Ethnic Knitting Exploration may be for you!

I'm sure Donna will be checking the comments section today, so if you have any questions for her, leave a comment and I bet she will respond. Tomorrow's stop on the Ethnic Knitting tour: The Fitter Knitter (you may remember Cindy from being a stop on the KSF blog tour -- hi, Cindy!).

Guest Blogger: Donna Druchunas, author of Ethnic Knitting Discovery

Today, GKIYH is happy to welcome Donna Druchunas (whose last name I very badly want to misspell but I think I got it right), author of Ethnic Knitting: Discovery: The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and The Andes. Donna



blogs here. You may remember that Donna guest-blogged in the spring, in conjunction with the release of her previous book, Arctic Lace: Knitting Projects and Stories Inspired by Alaska's Native Knitters. Today Donna is going to tell us a bit more about her new book and what motivated her to write it, so let's give her a warm, Go-Knit-In-Your-Hat welcome:


Carol, thanks for having me on Go Knit In Your Hat as part of my Ethnic Knitting Discovery blog book tour! I'd like to talk a bit about how I chose the various knitting techniques included in Ethnic Knitting Discovery and how I decided what to include. First we'll need to take a look at what's in the book. Here's the table of contents:

Chapter 1 : Freedom from Patterns
Chapter 2 : A Few Basics
Chapter 3 : The Netherlands
Chapter 4 : Denmark
Chapter 5 : Norway
Chapter 6 : The Andes

In the first two chapters of the book, I go over the basics of sweater design including how to make a gauge swatch, how to design a sweater that fits, how to knit in the round, how to knit from charts, and so forth. This is the information that you need to get started and, I hope, to overcome any trepidation you might have about designing a garment from scratch. It's actually easier, in many cases, than knitting from a pattern and it's not something that new knitters should feel afraid to try.

In each of the remaining chapters, I include techniques that are used in the garments made in that region. I also tried to keep it simple, but without oversimplifying to the point of making the projects boring. For example, in the chapter on Denmark, the only special technique include is how to join the welts at the hem of the sweater. Beyond that, basic knitting skills and the tips in Chapters 1 and 2 are all you need to jump in and design a sweater. In the chapter on Noway, I explain how to cut armholes and necks open on a sweater body that is knitted with absolutely no shaping, and I provide some tips for knitting with two colors. I don't explain how to do the elaborate embroidery that was used in the past on traditional Norwegian sweaters. I skipped that for two reasons: 1) it's not knitting, and 2) it's beautiful, but old-fashioned looking. I suspect that most knitters these days prefer simpler garments, and many would feel that elaborate colorwork knitting doesn't need any additional embellishment. In the old days, Norwegian sweaters were made in very basic colors, usually black and white, and the embroidery added a splash of bright color. Today we have a much wider range of colors available for knitting yarn.

In the chapter on the Andes, I follow the same philosophy and add a little something extra, including instructions on creating a crochet cast-on punta trim. The Andean color technique discussed is optional, but it is referred to in the sweater instructions that follow.

Most of the techniques in the book are things I'd picked up over the years as I satisfied my own knitting curiosity. I love buying books with new techniques, and I also love taking knitting classes. They're a fun way to meet other knitters, and if you learn one thing in each class, it's well worth the cost. Sometimes I take classes just to make something I've been procrastinating about. I make the class into my own private knitalong. All of this is to encourage knitters to try new things without feeling afraid. Help is as close as your local yarn shop or your web browser. And remember, it's just knitting, and it's easy enough to rip out and start over if you don't like the results. The best advice I ever read in a knitting book was from Sally Melville. She said, "Don't be hesitant to rip out your knitting." If you have to rip, that just gives you more knitting time with the yarn! What are you going to do after you finish this project anyway? Knit some more!