Company's Coming Crafts: Knitting

Yesterday while picking up my lunch I came across the first releases of the New Company's Coming Craft series. The Series so far is Card Making, Quilts, and Knitting. The book that first caught my eye was Quilting. It has the most gorgeous cover, bright sunny things to close out the end of winter. Knitting is a good cover too, but its hard to outshine that Quilt cover.

Since knitting is my personal obsession dejour, and since I have a deep and abiding love of the Company's Coming Cookbooks, I thought for the price, I'll pick up Knitting.

They have partnered with DRG Texas Ltd. to produce this book. Anyone who has been around craft magazines will know this company. OK, make that, they will know it if they read all the teeny tiny print that the owners of the magazines are required to print in their publication each year. Which I do.

Now to the book.

The approach is much like the approach they have taken to cooking. Good solid entries that will fit all sorts of tastes. The cover notes the project range as beginning to intermediate, and that is exactly what is inside. Simple styles, good basic projects, yarns found locally.

There are cozy pullover sweater patterns for your entire family and some really nice cardigan designs. There are accessories for every occasion. There are some nice shawls, a moebius shawl, felted bags, socks, jewelry, bibs, pretty much something of everything. There are afghans galore, some pieced so you could make big projects portable, there is an intarsia thing with leaves that is quite interesting, there are blankets made beautiful by the colours of the yarns, there are knitted blankets that mimic crochet (yes, I am laughing about that!). There is an entire section of things best called 'interesting stuff'. Pillows, and puppy coats, and placemats. Its a very broad range for one book.

The projects are made from accessible, affordable yarns. I know I could find all of the yarns easily. The big craft stores across North America carry many them, and some of the yarns will be found in your LYS. If you can't locate the exact named yarn locally, you will find or be able to find suitable substitutes locally without any difficulty, and if you like buying online, well you will find it all. The projects are made with brands and yarn lines that have stood the test of time.

Sweater sizes for women range from small to what I would think of as extra large. A knitter with a little experience could easily adjust any of these to fit because of the simple fit of most of the patterns.

This would be a great book for a beginner knitter 'kit' to give as a gift. There is indeed a little something for everyone in here. A set of needles, enough yarn for one of the smaller projects, and this book in a basket would be really nice for someone just starting out or for a knitter stuck in the hospital or other place without any access to resources.

This book is aimed at beginners and intermediate knitters, aimed and meant to appeal to a very broad range of people, and it is meant to be in publication for a long time. The projects chosen will certainly do this. It contains the general trends from the last couple years: socks, shawls, felted bags. It does not and cannot contain the up to the minute design trends, like some of the very fitted and shaped and fitted sweaters now showing up on magazine pages. It is a compendium of good designs, rather than a publication from a yarn maker promoting their yarns.

You may recognize some of these designs. Many of them have been published previously, but unless you happen to have the book or magazine issue they were originally published in you likely won't find these designs online.

What this book does, it does well. Rock solid designs with broad appeal made from things found locally. This is exactly what Company's Coming is noted for in its recipe collections, and it is what they excel at. Just as Company's Coming did with its many wonderful cook books, they are going to get better at publishing craft books. The idea of having a local to me Edmonton publisher, publishing craft books, fills me with delight.

This books rates a double crochet. Its not 'gourmet' crafting, but it is crafting that will stand the test of time.

In case anyone is wondering,yesterday's post about the not quite solid yarn? There is a sweater in here [page 37], that is speaking to me loudly. It's begging to be made with some not quite solid yarn. I'll listen to it too. In fact, I'd have time to make it if only that other sweater, the blanket, the cat pillow and the rugs from this book would shut up. (I can't possibly make you just yet)