On Reference and Craft Books

Pattern from Little Stitches book

I've written before about how I feel about owning books. I like to keep things less cluttered, although if you visited my apartment at this very moment, you might not believe me. Eh. It's a process. But I've been thinking again about the things I own. Some friends of mine are packing up and moving to China for a few years. They have a month from the initial interview til their jobs start and now they're packing up. One Facebook post said that after saying goodbye to people, the next hardest decision has been choosing which books to take along.  Most of my friends have pretty significant libraries, and mine grew over the holidays.

In general, I try to keep books that I read over and over. My Anne of Green Gables series and Tamora Pierce books. But I also have a small, but growing reference collection, and most of those books are craft books. I haven't much felt like reading these last couple weeks, not surprising after the banner reading year I had last year. It's been cold as ...COLD in my apartment. Charming basement apartments in early 20th century houses are all well and good, but when the walls and floors are poorly insulated, winter makes you long for well insulated McHouses. Anyway, I've been spending a lot of time on the couch, cuddled up under an electric blanket, watching movies and sewing.

Thanks to the holiday generosity of friends and family, I've added three knitting books, a crochet book and an embroidery book to my collection. My brother and his girlfriend got me three little books of knitting stitches and hat making, more like pamphlets, really, but I especially like the book of knitting patterns. They aren't too fancy and difficult but they offer more than a simple stockinette pattern.

I scored an advance copy of Crochet-One Skein Wonders from NetGalley. I really like this whole series (there are a couple knitting books one yard books for sewing). The patterns aren't super fancy, but they do offer some fun ideas for gifts. I'm probably going to make some wrist warmers for a craft exchange I'm going to this week. I also like the baby bootie patterns, and since I know of a fwe impending births, this might be a good project for a snowy afternoon. However, a note of caution. If you use this or the knitting books, be sure to carefully check out the length of yarn required for each project, for not all skeins are equal. I've learned this the hard way.

My bestie Monica got me Austentatious Crochet. The patterns are inspired by Jane Austen characters and stories, and the author includes mini-essays about Regency needlecraft. The projects are just difficult enough to present a challenge but not put me off the venture. It's a great companion to the Jane Austen Knits magazine I bought myself. The patterns in that book are rather more difficult, but I like them.

My other bestie Nicole gave me a couple gift cards, so in addition to my very own copy of The Second Sex, I got a copy of Little Stitches, an embroidery pattern book that came with some great iron on transfers. Normally, I get these from the library, except I can't use the patterns, and tracing with my transfer pens is kind of a pain.

Finally, I'm in the market for a book of fancy embroidery stitches. I've got one waiting for me at the library, and I'm going to sample a few more before I decide to buy.