No-Bull Book Review & Giveaway: Stashbuster Knits, by Melissa Leapman

Melissa Leapman is one of the veterans of the knitting industry: she seems to work tirelessly, teaching, writing books and publishing patterns.  Having met her in person, I can also tell you that she is funny and down-to-earth and fun. I was delighted to receive a review copy of her latest book, Stashbuster Knits: Tips, Tricks, and 21 Beautiful Projects for Using Your Favorite Leftover Yarn. Let's subject it to the No-Bull Book Review treatment.

Stashbuster Knits (Potter Craft) is a paperback book, 144 pages, approximately 9 x 9 inches. MSRP is $19.99; available for $13.59 as of the time of this writing through the link above.  In the introduction, Leapman good-naturedly (and accurately) describes the typical knitter's stash:

Some of this treasured collection consists of one or two extra balls of yarn purchased "just in case." Much of it is just partial balls--precious bits and pieces left over from completed projects. Then there are those times a single ball of this or that lands in the stash because it's something you are curious to try out, or perhps it was an irresistible bargain, happily discovered in a hidden sale bin.  And who can resist picking up yarn as a souvenir from vacations and business trips?

Leapman cannily notes that although we love our stash, we also find it guilt-provoking because we know "there's just so much potential in there, if only we could figure out what to do with it."  But first, she cautions, we need to know what in our stash, and be able to retrieve it.  Accordingly, part 1 of the book is devoted to stash organization.

Puzzle Play

Leapman begins by suggesting that the knitter aggregate her entire stash, then sort it. She uses a four-category system:  super fine/fine yarns (lace through sport weight); lightweight (DK); medium (worsted and aran weight); and bulky/super bulky (heaveir than aran weight). She helpfully includes the wraps per inch calculation, for balls of yarn that have lost their wrapper, and then includes a chart which gives rough yarn equivalents (e.g. 2 strands of super fine yarn equal 1 strand of light yarn). She gives tips for how to inventory stash and how to store it (with anti-moth tips). After some tips for what to do if you have too much stash, she covers some basic color theory, giving advice on how to combine colors, how to create a "magic ball" and other methods for randomly (or not so randomly) combining colors. Last topic covered is matching project to yarn, considering amount, laundering care and yarn weight/gauge.

Cables and Colors

Part Two is the project section, organized by yarn weight.  The first section, devoted to lace-, fingering/sock and sportweight yarns, contains 5 projects, the Boho Bangles (best for using up small quantities of leftover yarn), a striped market bag, a cowl,

Fire and Ice Cozy Cowl

a bias striped scarf and a baby kimono with zigzag stripes on the body and a geometric stripe on the sleeves.

The section on lightweight yarns (dk weight) includes the Harlequin bag,

Harlequin

striped mittens, a kid's rollneck sweater done in stripes, a ripple stitch shawl, and an intarsia sweater for men.

Sea of Blue

Worsted weight projects consist of an afghan done in multiple colors shaped like jigsaw puzzle pieces,
a tote bag, a cabled yoke sweater, a circular-shaped medallion jacket

Roundabout

a multicolored linen stitch wrap, and a fair isle-style men's vest.

Strathaven

Bulky and superbulky projects include a slouchy beret,

Urban Knitster Slouch Hat

a textured cap, a cropped cardigan, a zipped and hooded vest, and a throw.

Bravissimo Throw

Following the patterns is a brief refresher course on topics like how to join a new ball of yarn, how to make bobbles, intarsia, provisional cast-ons, methods of increasing and decreasing stitches, and finishing techniques.  A helpful section also gives the basics of reading charts.

One thing that is especially helpful, and appears throughout the pattern section, are little boxes with tips and suggestions for customizing the patterns.  For example, the sample garment for the men's sweater is done in a blue colorway, but photos are given of two alternate colorways, one in browns, another in neutrals.

For knitters who are nervous about selecting colors, or who aren't good at imagining different color combinations together, this is a great help.  Other boxes include tips on yardage (noting, for example, that colors used for one part of a sweater will require more yardage than colors used later in the pattern), ideas for tweaking size or style, and suggestions for how to best use scrap yarn in that design.

As one might expect, you'll find all the amenities that Potter Craft books are known for:  color charts, schematics, clear photographs, close-ups of design details. and an easy-to-read layout.  We've already covered the weight of the yarns used (everything under the sun).  Sizing is generous; men's sweaters run from around a 43-inch finished chest to 61 to 64-inch finished chest, andwomen's sweaters go from around 34 to 35-inch finished bust through 3X, around 48 to 55-inch finished bust.  The baby kimono is sized for 6/12/18/24 months, mittens are adult women's/men's; the child's sweater runs 2/4/6/8/10, and the rest of the items are primarily one size items (e.g. bags, throw, scarf).

Project count goes like this:

• 2 throws/blankets
• 3 women's sweaters
• 2 men's sweaters
• 2 hats
• 1 pair of mittens
• 3 bags
• 1 cowl & 1 scarf
• 1 bangle cover
• 2 shawls/stoles
• 1 baby's sweater
• 1 kid's sweater

Summing up, Melissa Leapman presents a versatile collection of good-looking patterns designed to use small amounts of yarn and other leftovers from the knitter's stash. There's a little bit of something for everyone in this book, and the technical information on organizing stash and combining colors will be helpful for knitters who feel overwhelmed by their odds and ends. And thanks to the generosity of Potter Craft, I've got a copy of Stashbuster Knits to give away.  Leave a comment (one per person, please) no later than midnight, Thursday, December 1st and I'll draw a random winner the next morning.  Make sure you include an email address or some other way I can get in touch with you or I'll pick another name.  (I moderate comments, so if your comment doesn't show up instantly, please be patient!)

Coming this winter.....from the infamous Barb Brown

It always gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling when a friend ends up creating something beautiful, so I was extremely pleased to see this on Amazon:



Knitting Knee-Highs: Sock Styles from Classic to Contemporary by GKIYH pal Barb Brown. The book is slated for a February 2011 release, although we usually see books arrive a few weeks earlier than Amazon's projected release date. In the book, you'll find instruction on knitting knee-highs as well as patterns for some gorgeous socks -- with each pattern shown in an alternate colorway and variation. I've seen some previews and I can tell you there are some wonderful, wonderful patterns in this book. I'll be sure to do a book review once it is actually available for purchase. Congrats, Barb!

You need to check out this new book....

You may remember a while back, I gave y'all a sneak preview of a forthcoming knitting book, called Vintage Baby Knits: More Than 40 Heirloom Patterns from the 1920s to the 1950s by Kristen Rengren.



It's now available for sale on Amazon (a paltry $18.15 if you click on the link above) AND to make things even more exciting, Kristen will be signing copies of her book at Loop tonight, from 5 to 7 p.m.




I will definitely be there, since Kristen is a pal of mine (she's one of the folks I visited in Chicago back in January) and I can't wait to see her book. And her!

Maryland Sheep & Wool

I'll be spending tomorrow at Maryland Sheep & Wool -- woohoo! The station wagon will be hitting the road nice and early. I'll be spending some time at the Kid Hollow booth to catch up with Mindy, which makes it a good place to find me if you want to say hi. (And if you bring copies of Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns, I'll gladly sign them! Knit So Fine, too!) Don't be shy -- I love meeting y'all.

See you there!

On a happier note...

my forthcoming book is now available for pre-order on Amazon:



This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I hope that it will help sockknitters have even more fun knitting with handpainted sock yarns by giving them a feel for how these yarns work, including the common dilemma of what to do with sock yarn that pools or splotches, along with some spectacular patterns especially designed with handpaints in mind. I was very fortunate to get submissions from some wonderful designers -- from Ann Budd to Priscilla Gibson-Roberts to Ve-Ve to Charlene Schurch to Chrissy Gardiner and some new folks, too -- who love handpaints as much as I do and who were able to come up with some beautiful and creative patterns that make the most of them.

Interweave's got a preview here. Feel free to pre-order. . .

A scoop: Vintage Baby Knits

One of the extremely fun things about TNNA is getting a sneak preview of some of the wonderful yarns, books, fibers and other knitting/crochet accoutrements that will be introduced this coming fall. I'll be giving you some previews of what's coming for fall in the next few weeks, beginning today, with my first real-live, GKIYH scoop: a preview of a knitting book that is coming next spring.

At TNNA, I happened to run into Kristen Rengren (known to many of you as “Retroknit” on Ravelry). I’ve been corresponding with her a while but this was our first face-to-face meeting. You know how when you have an on-line acquaintance with someone, and you think you’d get along wonderfully in person, but you aren’t 100% positive because, well, sometimes people sound normal on teh Interwebs and then when you meet them in real life, they’re a little cuckoo?

That is NOT what happened with Kristen. She is every bit as charming and funny in real life as she is on-line. (Phew.) I cannot vouch for whether she thought I was a little cuckoo, however.

When I first saw Kristen, she was walking around TNNA with a suitcase. She was at the Mission Falls booth, and she opened up her suitcase and it was filled with some truly gorgeous baby stuff. I knew Kristen was working on a book and I figured it'd be good, since Melanie Falick is her editor, but I had no idea how adorable her designs were until she showed me some of the sample garments. With the permission of her editor, she was able to share a few photographs with me:

I was especially intrigued by the fact that Kristen's designs were inspired by vintage baby patterns from the twenties through the fifties. Here's how Kristen describes them:

The book is 42 all original vintage patterns, retooled to varying degrees for gauge, size, fit - a few I basically just reknit and called it a day, but most required serious re-working in some form or another (and a couple patterns were so bad that we just threw the original pattern out and reverse engineered the garment from scratch.) The book has tons of sweaters, plus booties, caps, soakers, bonnets, toys, etc -- enough to keep any new mom more than occupied for the first year or two. The size range is 0 to 24, although most patterns come in 3 or 4 sizes only - so some garments go 0-12 and others go 6-18 or 12-24.

I love vintage patterns and I love that Kristen has done all the work for us: instead of being instructed to find a skein of “Glossila” or 12 oz. of a fine cotton and some small whalebone knitting pins, you will find yarns that you know, and modern lingo, gauge instruction, etc.


And since Melanie Falick is editing it, you know it’s going to be a gorgeous book.

I don’t think the book is on Amazon for pre-orders yet, but rest assured that as soon as it is, and as soon as I have pre-ordered my own personal copy, I will post the link.

Oh yeah, did you notice that Kristen is putting the ridiculously large number of forty-two (42!) patterns in the book? And fine yarn fans: many of the designs use the skinny yarns that we know and love. This is definitely one to look for next spring.