Book Reviews

I had $50 worth of Barnes & Noble gift certificates from work (there is a program at work called "Pride @ Boeing", and when you do something that someone else appreciates, they can nominate you for points towards this program). Anyway, some of the most valuable awards on there are the gift cards. I'm sorry, but I don't really need a(nother) work-related t-shirt or mug.

Boeing also has an employee discount at B&N. So I decided to combine the gift cards, the employee discount, and Daniel's B&N membership to buy myself a few new books.

1) Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. This little book has 12 projects to carry you through the year. I love her conversational tone, and the fact that her instructions make sense, even if they are far less detailed than some other patterns out there. I wish I had known this woman - everything I ever read by her or about her is amazing.

2) Shannon Okey's How to Knit in the Woods. I think this little book (perfectly sized for travel), will become very useful when I am camping this summer, and want to make something other than socks - although the book includes two sock patterns. :) I like that she reminds you that cotton is not a smart thing to bring camping - it takes forever to dry out (think "wet pair of jeans"), and you are better suited to things like bamboo, wool, or even this neat yarn from Dale of Norway called "Hauk", that is wool treated with Teflon(!).

3) Lisa Myers, Carol Sulcoski, and Laura Grutzeck's Knit So Fine: Designs with Skinny Yarn. They do a great job of explaining why items knit in a finer gauge will fit you better. I thought the example in the beginning, using a Barbie doll, was great. They had Barbie in two knit tube dresses with shaping - one was in a fine yarn, and one was in a bulky yarn - guess which one hugged her curves better? They also reference Big Girl Knits by explaining how large yarns will just make you look...large.

4) Moon Outdoors' Take a Hike Seattle: Hikes Within Two Hours of the City. I am looking forward to getting to use this book most weekends this summer. I envision scanning a PDF of one of the hikes out of the book, emailing it to friends, and saying "We'll be here at X appointed time. If you would like to meet us, great. If not, great. If you want to carpool, let me know."

And I also recently acquired another book, but I haven't had a chance to look into it yet. It's called The Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest: A Romantic Travel Guide. The link actually goes to the newest edition, but I have the one from 2007. I actually got this as another "atta-boy" from work. Also looking forward to using it! :)

Finally... Daniel gave me a coupon from his B&N membership, so I used it to buy one last thing:
Deb Menz's Color in Spinning. I think this is one of those great reference books that everyone needs - like Alden Amos, EZ, et al.