You never know where you are going to find something worthy of your attention.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I shopped at the JoAnn's in California, Maryland. Yes, this is a big box store. This particular JoAnn's is not large. It is maybe half the size of the typical grocery store? The aisles are narrow and the store is packed with craft materials. I was shopping for a roll of plain paper so I could draft a sewing pattern. They didn't have it because, as the nice clerk explained, they are a small store relative to other JoAnn's locations. Quilters and sewists must compromise much of their clientele, if the shelves of beautiful cotton print fabrics are any indication.
As long as I was there, I figured I might as well browse the craft books. There was a cute Star Wars-themed recipe book. There was a crochet book with adorable animal blankets. And there was a copy of Adventure Cables by Meghan Jones.
I didn't buy the book initially. But a day or two later, while running errands with Cuddly Hubby, we ducked in so I could buy it. I kept thinking that, just maybe, this was a book worthy of space in my library.
It is!
The pattern section of the book consists of five chapters:
- "Crossings with Texture Stitches,"
- "Crossings with Lace Stitches,"
- "Crossings with Cabled Stitches,"
- "Crossings with Mosaic Stitches," and
- "Crossings with Stranded Stitches."
In each of these chapters, Ms. Jones explores the design potential of cabling in stitch patterns where knitters do not normally cable.
In the texture chapter, I was most intriguied by the Kitsap Pullover. While the sweater is shown on a female model, I think this would be a great guy sweater. The stitch pattern uses twisted stitches as well as cables to create a fabric that resembles something mechanical — maybe bike chains? The texture pops in deep relief. To get the effect, you need to knit stitches through the back of the loop as you cable them.
In the lace chapter I'm drawn to the Odessa Tee. The lace pattern creates chains of wide O-like motifs on the half-drop. Here's where you see some serious stunt knitting. One of the cables is "Slip 5 sts to cn and hold in back, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, and then p2, k1tbl, p2 from cn." Throughout the book, Ms. Jones provides directions for cabling with and without a cable needle. This cable is no exception.
The remaining chapters continue stunts as you might expect. Roxboro Mittens include a cable where you work a left twist and a right twist as you cable. The chapter with mosaic stitches is not quite as crazy. There, all you do is knit most of the stitches in the cabling but slip some of them. And the chapter on stranded colorwork simply involves knitting cabled stitches in whatever color is appropriate. After some of the earlier chapters, simply alternating between main color and contrast color as you work across your cable needle doesn't seem so bad.
The publisher is
Stackpole Books. I'm impressed. The book is nicely photographed — clear photographs show the
garments at distance and up close, as well as nicely styled. The models and
the projects are size-inclusive. Directions are good and include instructions
for common ways of altering the garment. There are multi-page visual tutorials
illustrating the most unusual maneuvers. Charts are large and clear. Text is
printed for middle-aged person eyes instead of young person mini-type.
I'm also impressed Stackpole Books was willing to publish this. There aren't
really any beginning knitter patterns here. This is a book designed for
intermediate and experienced knitters who want to make complex, spectacular
fabrics. The book only came out on 1 September 2021, just over 100 days ago.
When I visit
its Ravelry page, there are two completed projects with photographs (both cowls). If I click
to show projects with no images, there's an incomplete sweater. Alas, I doubt
I'll have time to knit any of these projects soon.
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