Mason Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters' Guide - Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes and Pictures - Hardcover

Gardiner, Kay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307236056 ISBN 13: 9780307236050

Publisher: Potter Craft, 2006

Synopsis

Enjoy the practical advice, real-life knitting instruction and irreverent humour of Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne, the duo behind the renowned knitting web log masondixonknitting.com. The ladies of Mason-Dixon Knitting will take you on a thrilling adventure through Knitopia, a place where knitting and creativity unite through the zaniest knitted items imaginable. Kay and Ann reveal that a pattern is a starting line, a launching pad! Mason-Dixon Knitting is a collection of unbelievable patterns, a how-to manual and a crazy quilt of hilarious narrative, all in one. In this book, Kay and Ann chitchat their way through a series of more than 30 incredible patterns. Drawing creative inspiration from their surroundings, they present colourful blankets, sassy nightgowns, a delicate curtain and much more to reveal that knitting can weave its way into just about every aspect of life. Most of these projects are the epitome of ease, but you can make them as simple or complicated as you prefer. Kay and Ann invite you to use your creative vision to interpret each pattern and give it your own personal touch. Full-colour photography of these delightful home- and family-inspired knits accompanies each project. Along the way, Kay and Ann will introduce you to incredible knitting personalities, share their own knitting experiences and present eye-popping knitting phenomena. Knitting is much more than a craft - its a lifestyle!

About this title

Review

""Mason-Dixon Knitting" is one of those books that makes a home in the heart of knitters. Like a couple of favorite aunts ushering you into a sunny kitchen for tastes of cookie dough and the sharing of secrets, the authors comfort, inspire, amuse, and brighten the life of the lucky reader who steps into their world. I fell in love right away with the book's colors, playful approach, and designs... Ann and Kay's friendly repartee and wry senses of humor, genuine friendship, and the steady rhythm of cheerful and obsessive knitting interwoven with the pulsing music of family life make this a book to curl up on the couch with as well as to knit from." --Cat Bordhi, author of "A Magical Treasury of Knitting"
"Receiving a pre-publication review copy of this sparkling new book is one of the happiest things that's happened to me in good long while. To read "Mason-Dixon Knitting" is to find yourself surrounded by a world of smiles; it is to remember what's really important in this world (hint: it has to do with loved ones, home and joy); and, to discover some amazingly good, exciting knitting!" --Nancy Parsons, author and editor of Knittersbookshelf.com
"When I heard that Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne were writing a book, I was intrigued. Gardiner and Shayne are the two voices behind Mason-Dixon Knitting, an ingenious blog based on the ongoing correspondence of two friends (they met in an online knitting forum, and one lives in New York while the other resides in Tennessee-hence Mason-Dixon). Their blog is a warm and welcoming place, and their creative endeavors never cease to inspire me. The book is slated for a late March release, but I got my hands on an early copy at TNNA last week. Itucked it in my bag and promptly forgot about it until later that night when I was back in my hotel room and getting ready for bed. Having already read the room-service menu not once but twice, I figured I'd let Kay and Ann put me to sleep. But they didn't. An hour later I was still wide awake, relishing every word and unable to believe the book could be this good." --Knittersreview.com, Clara Parkes

Synopsis

This is an enthusiastic, inspirational, and humorous celebration of the knitting lifestyle through narrative, instruction, and 30 patterns, to guide knitters of all ages to tap into their own creative genius, all from the Car Talk of the knitting world, the authors of the wildly popular knitting blog, masondixonknitting.com. Through their common love of knitting and life, Ann Meador Shayne and Kay Gardiner, two women who had never met, started on a two-year correspondence and happened upon a magical thing: knitting freedom. Although it may not sound revolutionary, the idea that one can conjure a concept for an object and just make it without a pattern is blasphemy. For most, knitting begins as a paint-by-numbers process of following pattern after pattern after pattern and buying book after book. The possibility of ending up with a hand knit that has the mark of one's own imagination on it is a powerful and delicious thing, and that's what the authors deliver.

In a chatty and personal way, the authors share their wondrous discoveries and creations on the road trip through Knitopia: pillows with fingerprints knitted on them, a knitted portrait of Virginia Woolf, and the flat-out whimsy and genius of the designers. There are more than 30 patterns in this book, most of which are the epitome of ease. Readers can choose to make them as easy, or as complicated as they can bear. The intention is to leave room for one to expand on a specific concept or technique, which will be explored in further detail.

About this edition

• Publisher: Potter Craft
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0307236056
• ISBN 13: 9780307236050
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160