Don't Write the Obit For Picture Books Yet

Don't Write the Obit For Picture Books Yet

Some of you may have read the New York Times article on the supposed demise of the picture book. Read this article in Publishers Weekly for a more balanced perspective. Most interesting (to me) were the comments on how graphic novels and picture books enhance visual literacy, something definitely considered a 21st century skill.

"We Knitters Work a Powerful Magic When We Knit for Others."

The title of this post is taken from Knitting for Peace by Betty Christiansen.  Many of us have heard of the power of prayer shawls, and of the comfort they provide to their recipients.  This book will take you far beyond prayer shawls.  As the Christmas holidays approach, I have been asked to knit for several charities.  While I have been able to refuse on cordial terms, a part of me wants to scream at these people "Are you crazy?  It's only a few weeks until Christmas and NOW you are asking me to knit?  Where were you last March when I was bored and looking for a good project?  Do you really think I have spare time NOW?"

To assuage my guilty conscience, I looked at this book.  These are not projects geared to a certain time of year.  In other words, come February when I have recovered from my Christmas throw extravaganza, the charities in this book will still need knitters.  You can knit slippers for soldiers, afghans for Afghanis, blankets for the homeless, the ill and animals in shelters (to soften their pens).  You can knit caps for chemotherapy patients and preemies, security blankets for children, socks for Russian orphans and teddy bears for children with AIDS in South Africa.

Every project in this book has a pattern and contact information for the charity.

Revel in Ravelry and Organize Your Stash

If there is one thing most librarian's love, it is applying order to their collection, whether it is a collection of books or a collection of yarn.  There is an amazing free website out there to help you do this.  Ravelry is a social networking site that has a place for you to "catalog" your stash.  It will allow you to add your own pictures, notes and projects.  You can keep a list of the needles and hooks (yes, it's for crocheters as well as knitters) and print it out for when you go shopping.  To give you an idea of how this site can change your life, here's a screen shot of some of my stash.

Yes, it has the name of the yarn, a picture of the yarn and how many skeins I own.  What you don't see are the notes:  where the yarn is stored, what I may have planned, etc.

Once you have your yarn "catalogued", you can click on Projects within the yarn and you will be able to see what projects other Ravelry members have completed with this yarn.  It will tell you the pattern, and if the pattern is available online, you can download it for free or for a price.  If nothing else, you will get ideas for things to make.

This website is definitely worth a few hours of your time exploring.  For the first time, I actually know all of my stash and can start working through it, instead of buying new.  Okay, I probably will keep buying new as well.  I think I may have a bit of a problem.

Take That! New York Times

Continuing with picture books about knitting, one of the prettiest books I have ever seen is Shall I Knit You a Hat? : a Christmas Yarn by Kate Klise.  Roger Ebert talks about the "willing suspension of disbelief" when watching certain movies.  You need to engage in the willing suspension of disbelief when reading this book -- not to believe that rabbits talk, nor to believe that rabbits knit, but to believe that any creature could knit not one, not two, but yes, 6 hats in one night.  Yes, this is technically a Christmas book, but the lessons of this book about caring and giving from the heart is a message for all. 

There Are Cats in This Blog!

I couldn’t imagine any better book to start my blog.  This book combines two of my great passions – books and knitting.  There Are Cats in This Book is a wonderful, funny, lift-the-flap (don’t worry – it can easily be repaired) book that any child would enjoy.  It truly captures cats’ personalities.  And for the adults who knit, you can knit the cats from the book!  That’s right, there are Patterns  to knit your own Moonpie, Tiny and Andre.  I confess I haven’t knitted my own yet, but the instructions seem clear and not that hard.  If you’re wondering what DK means in the instructions, I’ve looked it up.  DK stands for Double Knitting Yarn.  It is supposedly slightly finer than worsted weight.  If you end up using regular worsted weight, I think the worst thing that would happen is that you would end up with slightly larger cats.