Had I never seen Gerri’s Ballband Dishcloths, I likely would not have given the book a second glance.  But, as we all know, I did see Gerri’s dishcloths, and I did check Mason-Dixon Knitting out of the library (three times), and I did finally get my own copy, now that it’s out in paperback.

I’m sure the library is happy to have their book back at long last.

The projects

Since Christmas, I’ve had a small basket next to my spot on the couch, and in that basket has been a few balls of Peaches & Creme cotton worsted, and an in-progress Ballband Dishcloth or two.  I started with kitchen colors, but have since moved-on to the bathroom.  After that I plan to make a nice little pile in a variety of pretty colors to be used as hostess gifts someday.  It’s the perfect project to have nearby for those unexpected moments when your hands are idle.  You know those opportunities: you’re eating lunch in front of the tv, but your leftover Spanish Rice runs out twenty minutes before Martha is over.  That’s enough time to knit another stripe.  Or, two, if you’re faster than I am.

The book is more than washcloths, although there are two of them and two hand-towel patterns as well.  Add a few rugs, a bevy of blankets, a curtain, a cushion, and a bib for your favorite drooly baby, and you get the idea.  Mason-Dixon Knitting is very much a “knits for your home” kind of book, which is one of the things that sets it apart from other titles.  There are no sweaters, hats, or wrist-warmers here, but there’s a chapter dedicated to log cabin knitting, featuring some surprisingly stylish and cozy blankets.  The next time I find myself thinking I need a project that will keep me busy for six months, I’m casting on the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket.  Seriously.

I’m also smitten with the Flying Geese Blanket, the Big Dotty Cushion, and the Absorba the Great Bathmat.  The latter, with it’s use of chunky yarns and big needles is about as close to instant-gratification one can get with a bathmat.  Plus, I could make it in colors to coordinate with my new washcloths, if I’m feeling matchy-matchy. (And let’s face it, don’t I always feel matchy-matchy?)

The stories

I’ll be honest. I don’t often read craft books.  I flip through them, looking for projects that catch my eye, and then read whatever pages are necessary to satisfy my curiosity about those particular projects.  This book, though, draws you in immediately.  More than a pattern book, it reads almost like a shared blog.  (Authors Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne have been sharing a blog for some time and it’s a format they are good at.)

I read this one from cover to cover, enjoying the stories about Ann’s mother’s attempt to de-tartify her Barbie doll with a knit cardigan, the amusing Timeline of Knitted History, and the descriptions of “places we have tried to knit and failed.”  The book is peppered throughout with “rules,” my favorite one being: No project is too ambitious if you crave the result enough.

That’s something to keep in mind, next time I start daydreaming about a Moderne Log Cabin Blanket to drape over the back of my couch!

My Rating

5 stars out of 5

Intrigued? Check out these links for more

• Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitter’s Guide (due out in Paperback this Tuesday, February 9th.  Also available in Hardcover)
• Mason-Dixon Knitting blog
• My own blog posts tagged “mason dixon knitting”
• Ravelry projects from the book

Fair Warning: here begins approximately three months of moaning about the cold and longing for spring.  What can I say?  It’s  a little ritual of mine.  Do you know what else appears to be gaining ritual status for me?  January knitting.

By the time supper is cleaned up, homework is done, and the kids are heading up to bed, I want nothing more than to curl up in a cozy spot with the needles or the loom, and a little project.  I feel a lot better about the time I spend on nighttime TV, when I’m also making progress on something tangible.  Especially when it’s so so cold outside.  I don’t knit much between April and October, but in the winter? Oh, it’s on, baby.

This past weekend, Eamonn went to a birthday party, and I loomed a sock puppet gift according to his color specifications and button choices.  This is a nice, single-day project and has been our go-to kid gift for the last year or so.  My tutorial is here, if you want to loom up one of your own.

My little ongoing project for the last few weeks has been these Ballband Dishcloths from Mason-Dixon Knitting.  I’ve wanted to make them since before I knew how to knit with needles, when I saw the ones Gerri made last April.  Love at first sight, I tell you.  It’s weird how enamored with these I have become, but really – custom-made dishcloths to match your kitchen?  How cool is that?

I’ll be stopping at three for now, but only because there are other things I want to make.  I fully intend to return my focus to the dishcloths at some point.  I think they’d make nifty bathroom washcloths, too, or great hostess gifts with a jar of homemade dish soap.  It’s taking all of my will-power not to buy a cone of this cotton yarn in my bathroom sea foam color…

The big project I want to get started on is a sweater. I have wanted to make a sweater since forever, but it has always seemed so intimidating a process.  Besides the time involved in the knitting, there’s also the tricky-ness with sizing.  What if it doesn’t fit?  All of that time wasted.

Well,I bought this book that has turned around my thinking on the matter.  It’s called Custom Knits, and all of the patterns are top-down style, meaning you can try them on as you go.  I love that you can discover that the sweater is too small long before you get to the end of it.  I’d be much happier ripping out a few rows than frogging a whole sweater.

My local yarn shop is having a January special, where you can get a free sweater workshop or finishing workshop, if you buy the yarn for a sweater there.  So yesterday I went in, armed with a couple of gift certificates from my in-laws and my aunt, and spent way more on the materials for my new sweater than I would ever imagine spending on a sweater itself (Target shopper, that I am…).  Thank goodness for gift certificates. If I am ever going to make more than one sweater in my lifetime, I either have to become independently wealthy, or settle for the cheap yarn you can get at Michael’s.  (I’m currently holding out hope for independent wealth, as it’s so hard to knit with Lion Brand once you’ve sampled Malabrigo…)

Anyway, what I bought was six skeins of Cascade Rustic, which is a wool/linen blend with a nice drape.  And I love the pattern they helped me pick out at the yarn shop, too.  It’s got ruffles down the front – I don’t own a single thing with ruffles on it, but I was just thinking last month, after an unusual-for-me stroll through an upscale clothing store, that the one big thing that separates my wardrobe from theirs is ruffles, and that maybe I ought to find something ruffly to wear.

I’m so eager to get started on this sweater – I’ve heard it’s a relatively quick knit, so with luck I’ll be done sometime this month.

And that’s the January knitting (so far) in a nutshell.  I am toying with the idea of casting on a pair of Dashing for my FIL for his January birthday, but I’m not sure if he’d wear them.  Besides, I’d have to tear myself away from the sweater-making, and I’d have to learn cables, and he’d probably be just as happy with a bottle of Metaxa. Ah well.  I’ve got about a week and a half to make up my mind on that.

As a completely unrelated aside, I have made a little bit of advertising available here on the blog.  Just one spot for now.  I’d love to see it go to one of my creative blog friends – you all make such lovely things!  You can get more information about that here.  Rates are so reasonable right now, it’s just plain knock-your-socks-off silly.