CRAFT LOOKS AT BOOKS
Kitty, Bunny and Bear
By Hillary Lang $10
weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/store/
Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls brings her cute dolls to life in this Kitty,
Bunny and Bear pattern booklet. Lang’s well-known for her signature
plush dolls, and with this booklet you’ll be able to make one of your
own in no time with the easy-to-follow instructions. When you’re
done, head over to the Wee Wonderfuls site to download the free knit
cardigan pattern to keep your new friend warm and snuggly!
No Sheep For You
By Amy R. Singer, ISBN: 1596680121 $23
interweave.com/knit/books/no_sheep/default.asp
Itchy, scratchy yarn got you down? Not a problem, says knitty.com
founder and editor Amy R. Singer. Singer herself is allergic to wool, and
her book gives comprehensive info on knitting with alternatives like
cotton, silk, linen, rayon, hemp, bamboo, and other natural or synthetic
materials. The book is also filled with beautiful knitting patterns; you’ll
find yourself drooling over the variety of projects you can knit.
Sublime Stitching
By Jenny Hart, ISBN: 0811850110 $20
chroniclebooks.com
I loved Jenny Hart’s Stitch-It Kit, but was surprised at my stinginess when
it came to her hip patterns. When one of my friends wanted to snag a
few, I reluctantly gave her two — the kit only had 35 transfers, after all. So
when I got Sublime Stitching, Hart’s new pattern-packed book of designs
(100s of them, including stylized cats, martini glasses, conga drums, bigheaded babies, insects …), I swelled with newfound generosity. And for
embroidery newbies, there’s also a nice section on basic how-tos.
Craftivity
By Tsia Carson, ISBN: 0060841303 $20
supernaturale.com/articles.html?id=194
I’ve been eagerly awaiting Tsia Carson’s ( supernaturale.com) Craftivity
since last spring, when Jenny Hart told me she was embroidering a
screen door as a how-to project for the book. And to my surprise, the
book is even more fun than I’d anticipated. I love the variety of projects,
ranging from dyeing wool with unsweetened Kool-Aid (black cherry and
orange work terrifically, but blue is pretty much a dud), to making an outdoor fireplace with a wheelbarrow, to making a broken-glass chandelier.
No matter what your preferred materials — fabrics, wood, glass, paper,
plastic — you’ll find projects that will have you running to your craft room.
