Dazzling Knits Book

I got a new book in the post today from Amazon. A knitting book. Yes I know that it's a rare event for me to buy a knitting book unless there is something in it that I really like. I love bright bold colours and the designs in this book set my imagination working. I am already wondering how I can covert them to crochet as I only knit small items these days because I knit on a long pair of needles and one of them has to sit under my right armpit.

This method is OK for lighter items but for an adult sized garment it makes my shoulders and neck ache. I have tried knitting 'free' or using circular needles but it is so slow when I do this plus my tension is all loose and uneven.

You will see from the front cover why my eyes were immediately drawn to this book. This is my idea of a nice jacket.

This is the back view of the same jacket. I love the changes in style between the vertical stripes and the pointed squares at the bottom.

This is a change from the usual square pattern look of the crochet but I think I could adapt this waistcoat style into crochet with a bit of thought,

Once I  have mastered the squared look then this would be the next progression as I love the darker jewel shades as well as the bold and bright.

Diagrams like these set my mind thinking along the crochet lines. Whether I can convert this design into crochet remains to be seen.

What lovely shades of blues and green for this winter cardigan.

I can imagine my friend Babukatorium taking this design and taking ideas from it to make one of her magnificent crochet items.

She uses the brightest of colours to make designs such as these that were featured in an article about her designs in the latest Vogue Crochet book.

Back to the knitting book and these lovely pastel shades in this waistcoat. It still has the mauve and purple shades that I love so much.

This one is more circular in it's design.. Once again lovely jewel colours.

This one reminds me of a stained glass window.

Another chart to browse. I love the insertion of the black in between the colours.

What an inspiring colour chart.

Another inspiring chart. These two charts quite remind me of harlequins with their shapes and colours.

This is the last picture from this book that I am going to show. I have only given the book a quick browse but it looks like a good read to inspire me. I keep books like this on my bedside table. Other people read novels I read craft books and magazines.

Julie's dress now has a front and back bodice and I am starting to crochet down wards for the skirt. The neckline won't be quite as low when it is finished as it will have a ruffled neck edging around it. Julie went out with her family yesterday to the park and wore the grey shimmery top that I made for her.

As she is so tiny it is almost long enough to be a dress on her. She loves it and that is  all that matters. I like it when people like the things that I make for them.

This is one of my eBay pattern bids that arrived today. I like the long line cardigan but I wouldn't wear the pink top unless it was for the beach,

More granny squares. At least these are in one colour and so there won't be dozens of tails to stitch in.

Today has been hot but not quite as sunny. The weather forecast is for it to be nice and sunny tomorrow. I haven't been sitting out in it as I tend to burn if I sit directly in it. I am lucky enough to 'weather' as my Mother used to call it just be being around in it rather than sitting out in it. I usually sit more in the shade in the later afternoons or the early mornings and still manage to get a light tan.

I still haven't managed to get to the knitting machine yet. Every day I think that I will and then something crops up that distracts me. I won't machine knit in the evenings for fear that the noise will upset the neighbours and anyway my TV set is in the front room and my knitting machine is in the dining room. The TV in the dining room isn't working at the moment. I think that maybe the aerial broke in the last high winds or it may be that the TV that has broken. Either way it's not high on my list of priorities to buy or fix at the moment. As long as I have one working TV then I am happy. I like to watch it in the evenings when I am crocheting.

Happy crafting.