There are too many knitting books...

I love to knit and I love to read, so naturally I love to read knitting books. The literature of knitting is HUGE--lots of new books coming out all the time, plus older books being reprinted. We are buying knitting (and other needlework) books for the library all the time, especially as new trends (e.g. felting) have become popular. We have also started subscribing to Interweave Knits magazine.

With so much new knitting/crocheting/needlework stuff out there, some of it has got to be bad. For a while, you could go to this website You Knit What? to chuckle at some pretty awful patterns. (The bloggers on that site have called it quits but you can still read their archived posts.) I always try to check out a knitting book from the library before I decide to buy it--so many books sound interesting from a short description, but turn out to be duds.

I suspected that Knitprovisation: 70 Imaginative Projects Mixing Old With New might be iffy. It had been reviewed by several people on Amazon.com, and no one took the middle of the road--it was either loved or hated. I can't say I hated it entirely, but I have to wonder, why was it ever published?

The author is Cilla Ramnek, a Swedish textile designer. In the foreword, she mentions that she has never finished a knitting or crochet project--warning sign number one. The book has few actual patterns--most of the projects involve cutting up knitted garments or doilies--yes, doilies. Apparently, Sweden is a treasure trove of thrift store doily finds, and Cilla suggests that your middle schooler would like these doilies attached to the fronts and shoulders of shirts, or the pockets of pants. Right. Or maybe you'd like to spend your spare time crocheting bands on white gym socks? Oh, yeah. The models in this book appear to have been selected from extras on the set of Napoleon Dynamite. I have no beef with the non-professional models, but these folks look like they were photographed in a room with a carbon monoxide leak.

If you want a knitting book that will tweak your creative muscles a little, may I suggest Loop-D-Loop, or Mason-Dixon Knitting? You might find a few things in these books that you could see yourself knitting. And if you want to know what to do with your doilies, or get lots of other craft ideas, try craftster.org