I'm back this week with another book review for you! There were many entries in last week's drawing. I picked out one commenter at random and the winner is Caryl K! Congratulations!
This time I will be reviewing the book Entrelac; The Essential Guide to Interlace Knitting by Rosemary Drysdale provided by Sixth and Spring Books.
It's been years since my 'one-time-dabbling' in entrelac when I made the Danica scarf pattern in 2007.
Discovering entrelac for the first time was certainly a fascinating experience. Entrelac knitting creates a fabric that resembles strips that are woven together.. only its not. I found it to be very fun and the resulting scarf got a lot of attention from knitters and non knitters alike.
This book is like entrelac on steroids. It takes entrelac to places I never thought it could go.
The beginning sections contain extensive tutorials to teach you the basic techniques and there is even a section on knitting backwards to avoid purling! I was super excited to see that as I have always wanted to learn this technique.
In the chapters that follow, you will learn how experimenting with different stitch patterns, colors and yarn types can completely change the look of your entrelac.
Such as adding lace stitches..
cables..
bobbles..
fair isle..
..and self striping yarn.
(I love how this looks.)
The last section of the book contains more than 25 patterns that feature entrelac in different ways.
There are patterns included for hats, scarves, ponchos, bags, sweaters, vests.. you name it.
I especially liked this poncho featured on page 76.
I like the subtle use of entrelac on the front.
Altogether I found this book very interesting, inspiring, and imaginative. If you would like to try this technique out for yourself, this would be a great book for you to learn from.
To enter to win this brand new copy of Entrelac, please leave a comment under this post.
Remember to include your contact information!
I will announce the winner next week with another book review!