Book Review

A few weeks ago a large box appeared on my step, in it was three books about knitting shawls and scarves. This was a present ordered by my eldest daughter, aka Fushia. With the teeniest of hints about wanting one.
I have been knitting since I was 6, I used to knit on the school bus-a friend of my mother's would give me yarn and I would knit baby clothes for her to give to mothers doing it tough, and no-one made fun of me, any teenage knitters on buses out there these days?
So I have spent a lot of time reading these books and it is amazing the new things to learn, even after all this time.
Today I will give a brief review of one of the books and the others later.
Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle
25 knitting patterns from around the world.
I must admit my favourite thing about this book is that she gives needles sizes in mm as well as US sizes and measurements in cm and inches. Saves a lot of calculation for us Aussies. There are nice little stories and background, clear directions and good photos, amazes me how many patterns, especially for complicated lace designs, show beautifully draped articles that do not show the pattern at all well, one likes to see if what one is putting so much time in knitting actually resembles the original.
So Fushia selected some Heirloom 100% alpaca 8 ply wool (DK) in a lovely soft green and wanted a rectangle shawl using the fir cone design and the edge from that shawl, I also decided to put in a panel of pattern 2 from the sampler shawl. I estimated and cast on lots of stitches on a circular needle. Be interesting to see the finished project, looks weird at the moment as the photo shows, will post the finished, blocked item soon I hope.