I received a new book from Rowan today "Shore Lines" by Di Gilpin. I guess it is a joint effort between Harris yarns and Rowan. I am rather surprised at this book because I usually love Rowan books and even the very few that don’t have much I would ever knit (mostly the big wool type of thing), are beatifully put together and have many good ideas. They really make me IMAGINE knitting.
This book is a different breed altogether. The photos are beautiful but don’t really show the sweaters. There are no diagrams of the size of the sweaters, most are large rectangular things with no sleeve cap or shoulder shaping, so I would never make them in that form, and some of the color work and patterning are not really that inspiring. They don’t give the dimensions of the sweater in the directions so you have to do the math to figure it out. Personally, if I have to work that hard to decide if I want to knit the sweater, I will probably just move on to other things. That said, there are two or three good designs that I would make after making changes to the fit of the sweater such as adding at least a modified drop sleeve and perhaps knitting in a finger guage of yarn (they are all aran weight). Gee, just thinking about all those changes gives me a headache.
Still, I don’t believe this is up to Rowan’s usual standards and I don’t think I feel this way because I am grumpy about the text. The emphasis seems to be more on mood than on the actual sweaters, with poems and reflections about the landscape; the photos seem to be trying more to evoke an ideal of sweaters and place rather than showing the sweater itself. I love photography, I love to read poetry and philosophy but I want my knitting to be about knitting. I don’t want someone to tell me what I am supposed to be thinking and feeling while I am knitting, but perhaps this is just my more curmudgeonly nature coming out. I have already started my curmudgeon in training program.
Looking at this book reminded me that Rowan 37 came a few weeks ago and I loved looking at it. There are several sweaters I want to knit but I haven’t ordered any yarn yet. Given that I haven’t knit a stitch since Friday, I probably should not be thinking of ordering yarn, I have enough yarn, but every new book is filled with the promise of all these wonderful new sweaters that I want to knit. I can’t seem to stop yearning for more projects even though I have more than enough and if I actually looked at them piled up here on top of the filing cabinet I would probably be sick.
Well, "I can dream, can’t I?"