Old Topic - New Spin - Books On Tape

I've read for years on the KnitList and other forums about knitters who multi-task by knitting and listening to books on tape.

Never Been a Big Fan
I enjoy reading almost as much as I enjoy knitting, and I could never understand why someone would want to listen to a book rather than read it.

But one of the oddities about my life is that I rarely read knitting books.

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of books, and I look at the pictures and learn new techniques and evaluate and sometimes use the patterns, but I rarely read the text parts. I have never cared much about what folks write in books about knitting...the writing alway seemed to be the chaff in my wheat...I only wanted the wheat.

It All Comes Full Circle
Now I've found the perfect way for me to incorporate the written text of important knitting books (is that an oxymoron?) into my life without taking time away from my knitting.

Knitting Out Loud is a company that sells CD's of knitting books on tape.



I've just finished listening to Ann Feitelson's, The Art of Fair Isle Knitting, and I enjoyed the experiment very much. I am now looking forward to listening to my second set of CD's, America Knits by Melanie Falick.

When I was first asked to review these CD's, I was skeptical. They obviously cannot include patterns (which they don't), and I was concerned that I would miss the pictures and graphics that accompany the text in a full book. Since I own Feitelson's book, I was able to recall the pictures from the times I have wandered through her book, so it was quite a pleasant use of driving time to listen to her book and finally get a bit of the history I should have read about already.

Current Knitting
I wasn't able to quite meet my goal of finishing the Rowan Felted Tweed pullover vest by the end of the weekend.



However the pushing toward my goal got me quite far along toward finishing. I was able to almost complete the front (just have the left neck shaping left). Designing the neck shaping while concurrently doing the short-row shoulder shaping and keeping the stitch pattern correct took a little bit more time and concentration than I initially expected.

I anticipate I will finish the sweater during my work week this week.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Emma in France asks about my sewing, "Perhaps you could make your own kilt next and show off those infamous legs?" and then Cara follows up with "Will you try sewing some manly tote / knitting project bags next?"

I'm honestly not sure how much of my spare time I will devote to sewing. I would enjoy making either of those two projects. One of the other difficulties of sewing is the availability of a decent sewing/fabric shop near me. There's one in a nearby town who have some of the rudest bitches on the planet working there and other than that, I'm usually stuck with JoAnn's or purchasing supplies on-line. Just buying fusible interfacing or elastic for the boxer shorts was time-consuming.

Again I say, I may go back to quilting as my outlet for sewing.