July 2009

Reviewed by: Kate is a busy mother of four and has far too many craft projects on the go at any one time. These could include, but are not limited to, crochet, sewing, dyeing, paper making, spinning, felting and bookbinding. Kate has challenges in the areas of finishing things, saying no and craft supplies storage. She makes baby slings in her free time – find them here.

Weekend Knitting: 50 Unique Projects and Ideas by Melanie Falick. STC Craft (October 3, 2003) STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book (March 1, 2009).

This book has been re released as a softcover, and I am really glad. There are eleventy billion knitting books on the crafting book market at the moment, and not all are created equal. Knitting Weekend has stood the test of time, and is as current and useful as it was when first published in 2003.

The feel of this book is of a nice cosy weekend, at home with family or visiting with friends. Dipping into the pages is like finding a charming little town on an autumn drive, or like discovering a quiet and delicious café, or like wearing comfy handknit slippers on a cold winters day.

There are 50 projects in Knitting Weekend. Some of the highlights for me are curly toed elf slippers for children, a seriously cute hat called the Luggy Beannie, some gorgeously lacy Petticoat Socks, the trio of the Brioche Hat, Neckwarmer and Scarf (which uses Brioche stitch in the round and I can’t wait to give these a go!), a knitted backgammon board and a cute bag to keep it in, and flower shaped washcloths. Lots of the projects are perfect for starting and finishing in a weekend, while many others provide a perfect excuse (if an excuse is ever required) to link together a few perfect weekends of sitting and knitting. And just to help you to achieve the perfect serene weekend with sticks and string in hand, there are recipes for tea, hot chocolate and butter cookies, and some ideas for running the perfect bath to soothe tired knitting muscles.

And if, like me, you can’t sit and knit all day long, but yarny thoughts fill your head between your times with the needles, then Knitting Weekend can provide some more yarny thoughts, with lists of books and films where knitting features. The film list even includes Wallace and Gromit, fantastic!

The knitting patterns are contributed by a Who’s Who of knitting designers, and are accompanied by anecdotes, special notes and schematic diagrams for the garments. It is a shame that there isn’t any help for yarn substitution, but I suppose one can’t have everything.

Normally I am not a fan of knitting books that try to be more than how-tos or pattern books, but Knitting Weekend is a very comfy fit for me.

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