Thursday, January 22, 2009

An avalanche of books


Argh, people keep bringing great craft books to the wednesday club meeting, and I want them all! C brought a copy of "Weldon's Practical Needlework" - a hardback reprint of Victorian craft newsletters: fascinating insight into crafts at that time. There are about 12 volumes, retailing between £20 and £83... and then last night, J brought in two Mary Thomas books - fascinating guides to all things knitting, with the cutest little illustrations alongside the main diagrams. OK, those last two went on the ole amazon wishlist, because they aren't too pricey. But the Weldons?! Whether or not you could actually MAKE any of the projects in the newsletters is a seperate matter. You would have to guess at the yarn, and the terminology had not been standardised at this point. C says people wrote down the patterns as they worked them, and would often change terminology half-way through. I only had chance to quickly leaf through C's copy, but I bet it's a fascinating read.

I don't need any more craft books - they have already overflowed into the bedroom - but I am thinking I could probably do with some decent modular storage in the knitting room anyway. One of those shelving systems made out of simple cubes, perhaps. In fact, there are books in every room except the bathrooms/kitchen/hallway, and that's only because there's no room! Dammit, I want a house with enough room for a library! :D

I managed to join the motifs and the bottom strip of Blusa Queen last night, but it was a complete fudge, and I'm not happy with it. I drew up a diagram of how it ought to work, so will rip out and redo it tonight. The dratted thing is not going to beat me - I can't spot any mistakes in either part, but could not get them to join up consistently. The chart is not drawn correctly (the two halves do not stay lined up as they cross the page).

On a sad note, the Cog's car got shunted last week, and it looks as if it may have been the final blow to what was still a decent car. He's gutted - it's been his baby since new, and is faster and sportier than mine. I wonder if he'll renounce his January temperance tonight? Not sure I'm happy about sharing my car with him, he keeps his full of junk! It means I shall have to start using trains again - oh well, more crafting/reading time I suppose! Not sure what's going to happen yet, I had planned to take my car to Woolfest, but that leaves the Cog without a car for three days... hmm

2 comments:

Julie Spriddle said...

Shame about the Cog's car, I was hoping it would be OK. :(

Re Woolfest, the easy solution to that problem is that we take my car. :)

Lethe said...

Regarding Weldon's, if you are interested in only the knitting content, look for the Lacis book _Knitting: 19th Century Sources_, edited by Jules & Kaethe Kliot. ISBN 978-0-891656-00-5. In it, you will find 157 pages of knitting-only collected out of Weldon's. It is a much better bargain for knitters than buying all 12 hardback volumes.