Birthday Book Bounty

This entry is going to seem very over the top without some frame of reference. In my family, books are part of the coin of the realm. We all love them and we all love to amass them in whatever area we are inspired by.

When I was growing up my mom, brother and I had a more than respectable science fiction library. Mom always had an incredible collection of cookbooks and craft books -- my brother is beginning to take over the cookbook collecting. My dad is slightly less bookish, but has all sorts of woodworking and photography books and magazines to reference. You really just can't walk into a room in my parents house without encountering a large collection of some kind of book.

And I'm not much different. My book collection is a pretty reasonable barometer of what I am into... biology, computers, history of science, social history, science fiction, origami and other paper arts, mystery and suspense, espionage, the occasional gardening reference, knitting and a smattering of travel guides fill my shelves. I have to admit to not being a very lofty reader... you won't find too much high literature on my shelves -- probably a result of being force-fed too much of it during high school and college.

And the rooms with shelves keep expanding... first the office, then the guest bedroom, now the small upstairs bedroom. John tries hard to keep the spread of my library in check, but at some level he knows it is a futile battle -- his only recourse is to accumulate computer parts and Legos and the other things that engineers like to keep around them.

I did not have a very fibery birthday from a stash-advancement perspective (which is okay because I am beginning to feel a little stash saturated again). Instead, I got a might boost to my knitting library.

Here's the lovely gift that arrived on Saturday morning from Amazon from my brother and his wife:

Color Knitting with Anna Zilboorg

Both of these books by Anna Zilboorg are worth it for the pictures alone! Color everywhere! I really love the gauntlet mittens and the incredible variety of hat shapes. I was thinking that if I were going to try two color knitting, the best place to start would be on a small project or two... somthing that would give me some immediate gratification... or at the very least wouldn't become an expensive unfinished item (I try to be realistic about my expectations for myself). From what I can tell (I haven't read them thoroughly yet), these books are more jumping off points for personal knitting adventures than step by step guides to a given project. Which I like, but might not appeal to all.

On Saturday night, in addition to a fabulous dinner out at one of my favorite local restaurants, Meritage, my parents treated me to what has got to be one of the nicest book sets that a knitter could ask for -- at least if that knitter wants to design their own things -- the Barbara Walker treasuries:

The Ultimate Reference Library: Barbara Walker's Stitch Pattern Encyclopedia

Aren't they just gorgeous sitting there in all their primary color wonderfulness? A treasury of inspiration just waiting for me to dive into them. And as if that wasn't enough... Mom also enclosed a gift card for use at Knit A Round, one of my favorite yarn stores away from home in Ann Arbor. I'm a lucky girl!

(I won't even show pictures of the other two books that I gave myself as a birthday present... Weekend Knitting and Anne Budd's book of knitter's templates...)

This also seemed to be the time for me to get my knitting mags -- none of these were gifts, but the timing was auspicious for me...

Signs of Spring: The New Knitting Magazines Begin to Arrive...

I subscribe to Rowan and IK, and am a TKGA member. Not sure where the Knit N' Style magazine came from -- it was just a free copy that showed up in my mailbox. The Cast On and the KNS are mostly uninspiring, but I found a number of things in both the Rowan and the IK that I might need to do. Just my opinion, but I thought that overall there was a lot of good stuff in IK (and I was psyched to find the "Priscilla's Dream Socks" article available through the subscriber only part of the website -- I've heard such good things about this sock perspective but didn't really want to order the whole magazine to get it). When my husband picks up a knitting magazine and as he flips through points to half the items and says that he likes them, something good has to be going on.

Probably the only shame is that almost everything is cute and little and in cotton. I've got nothing against cute little cotton garments, but it's still pretty cold here in Chicago and I'm an instant gratification sort of girl. Be sure though, that "Polka Purl Dots" will be on my needles sometime in the future.

In the near term. however, I've decided that I need a pair of "No Sweat Pants" and have joined Allison's latest knit-a-long adventure -- the pant-a-long.

It's still hard for me to believe that only 4 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun can make a whole pair of pants (I'm pretty sure that the largest size will work for me). And yes, I know all about knitted garments that you sit in and stretch out, but I just can't resist these things. They seem like they'd be just perfect for lounging around the house in. And aside from knitting, lounging around is one of my favorite things!