Everyone Needs Extra Yarn

Looking for a last-minute gift for a knitter or a future knitter? Or for someone who will enjoy a charming story and illustrations? This book is perfect.

The main character, Annabelle, finds what looks like an ordinary box full of ordinary yarn. But it turns out it isn’t.

And this may look like an ordinary children’s book but it isn’t. Adults will enjoy it just as much as children will. I liked it a lot.

New Tricks for an Old Dog

I have been knitting for a long time. I have a few preferred methods for casting on and binding off that have worked well for me over the years. For casting on, I generally use long-tail cast-on for “regular” knitting with the occasional cable cast-on or knitted cast-on; Emily Ocker’s cast-on for circular knitting; and a provisional cast-on with a crochet hook. For casting off, I use the traditional bind-off, Icelandic bind-off, or crocheted cast-off for doilies and some shawls.

My repertoire just expanded with two new books: Cast On, Bind Off: 54 Step-by-Step Methods by Leslie Ann Bestor and Cast On, Bind Off: 211 Ways to Begin and End Your Knitting by Cap Sease.

I like both books. Yes, there is some duplication between them, but both are handy reference books. Both have clear text, illustrations, and photos, and both offer applications for each cast-on and bind-off. Each book gives the inquiring knitter lots of fodder for experimenting and thinking.

And I will finally learn the Channel Island cast-on.

The attentive reader may note that I use “cast on” and “cast off” for the verb and “cast-on” and “cast-off” for the noun. That’s what happens after a career as a copy editor.