Have y'all seen this book? It's AWESOME!!! The patterns are wonderful, and the information about the people of Alaska is facinating. The author has a wonderful "voice" and this book is a complete treasure. Really, check it out! Here is a link to the book at Amazon.com - Arctic Lace
The author, Donna Druchunas, has a web page, http://www.sheeptoshawl.com/ and you might like to go there and poke around. She also has a delightful blog, here, http://sheeptoshawl.com/blog/ . I spent some time there, and I found this post, "Do you know how to think" , and I nearly vibrated with excitement, because I run into this all of the time, not only with knitting, but with all avenues of life. Donna, I agree with you, 100%
Think! Explore! Create!
The editor, Deb Robson also has a fun, informative blog, which you can find here, http://independentstitch.typepad.com/ . Check it out!
While I agree that it is not necessary to 'blindly' follow a pattern, I think the 'method' discussed in the post you linked to is a natural progression for one learning the craft of knitting. First, you learn the stitches, then the symbols, then as you learn to recognize each stitch in knitted fabric, you can translate directly from the charted symbols. The author's "ability to understand the underlying logic of patterns and the structure of knitting stitches and garment shapes" comes with her knitting experience. It is something we all strive for, but many are not there YET. If she can teach all that in a class, it must be a really good class.
ReplyDeleteOn the book, is that the one with black and white pictures? That put me off. I know, it's superficial, but there are so many lovely, informative books out there, I didn't give this one a second glance. Maybe I will now.