Now I'm not the hugest westknits fangirl (that's reserved for Karen) but I love the look of his patterns. So far, I've knit three of his shawl: Groove, the Earth and Sky Mystery, and a Boneyard shawlette out of 1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted. Thursday evening I saw quick glimpses of the patterns in the new book and went to Ravelry over the weekend to add some to my favorites. Then, on Saturday, a customer suggested using a pattern from the book for our new Sunday KAL. And I knew I was going to wind up buying it.
But now that means I get to share my thoughts on it with you :o)
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| © Stephen West |
Of course I'm going to recommend you get this book. I mean, I did buy it for a reason. There's 10 patterns in the book and at a list price of $22, that's $2.20 per pattern. Quite the bang for your buck.
Now, onto the patterns...
I really do like everything in the book, but only see myself making half of them anytime in the near future.
(In order of appearance)
Moose River is a very very large/wide cowl. I must insert here, everything in the book is modeled by a male, but of course we women can take over anything :o). This one I don't really see many males outside of hipster Williamsburg wearing, but I can see one in my wardrobe's future. I'd actually really like to make it out of Malabrigo Worsted...oh just the thought of that warmth around my neck! I think though, that would lose the stitch definition. Might have to go with some Rios though.
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| © Stephen West Sidenote- Model Roy is a very pretty pretty boy! |
Seaway looks like a fairly simple beanie with a lot of texture. I don't know that I could wear it (too tight fitting to go over curly hair) but I really want to make it for someone. It might be a little too detailed for Kyle's tastes but you never know. Or else I'll just have to make one for myself in a bit looser gauge to accommodate the hair.
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| © Stephen West |
Thendara is this really awesome geometric shawl. I thought at first it was the same shape as Pagona with a different stitch pattern and detail until a customer yesterday pointed out that Pagona curves in a little more than Thendara. I actually started stash diving yesterday trying to find yarns to make this with. I was unsuccessful, but it's still in my head of projects I want to make. I love the no frill of this shawl and that it looks to be a mostly mindless knit. Perfect for Thursday night at knitting group :o)
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| © Stephen West |
Wedgewood is a scarf that utilizes short rows and striping to create a beautiful visual effect. As a knitter, it's pretty sad that I have virtually no scarves. I usually suffice with a shawl, but I've been lucky that this was such a mild winter. I might even have yarn to knit this in my stash, though I think doing it in a DK weight would be a great way to make it even warmer!
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| © Stephen West |
I totally lucked out that my favorite two patterns were also the last two in the book. So much my favorite, that I've already cast on for one of them! The Dustland Hat and Mitts stood out to me as soon as I saw them and of course I immediately started shopping (in my head) for yarn for them. The pairing is a heavily texture match- a slouchy hat and loose fitting fingerless mitts.
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| © Stephen West |
Another downside I found while going through the book was the lack of charts. I would much rather have charted instructions, even though there's no lace, for most patterns. The round instructions for Seaway are about 4 lines each...very easy to get lost in that. I think, though, that once the pattern is established, it would be easy to figure out and predict the stitches without relying on the pattern for guidance. I hope so at least.
One thing I really like about the book is the details given at the beginning of the pattern. It makes me so happy to see the yarn weight listed as well as the actual yardage required for the pattern. Stephen also lists the actual yarns used for the samples, but knowing the yardage required for the pattern makes it so much easier to find an alternative yarn choice. Thanks so much for that, Stephen!
*The book has a code on the back cover! It blends quite a bit into the background so I didn't even know it was there. As of today's edit (Sunday, March 4) there seems to be a bit of difficulty for those of us who purchased at our LYS to get the download. I'll update though when it's working again! I'm geekily excited to have a PDF version...my copy is already looking a little beat up and it's only been a couple days!!
*The download code redemption has been all fixed! Today is Sunday, March 11. I've been checking all week in the Westknits forum to see if anyone else had been able to download it. A couple people had trouble, but someone mentioned they contacted Stephen directly and he got the download for her. Then someone else did it so I finally caved and sent him a message. But he responded that he adjusted the download so that you can just put your code it. It worked for mine and I also tested straight from the Book Three page a code from a book in the shop (without actually downloading it...just checking that the price would adjust to free after the code is entered) and it worked. Download away!
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