Finished Object Dance

(Thank you, Stanley, for sitting so still).

Back in the Spring of 03, a friend told me this was in the process and word was it was due out that October.

Last October, when I was ordering another book, Meg at Schoolhouse Press, was expecting it soon and took my pre-order when I ordering something else.

And now, here it is in my mailbox. Robin Hansen has written 2 other books of Maine/Nova Scotian mittens, both of which are long out of print and missed. (Side note, she also wrote Knit Mittens in that series of knitting books that are hard-cover, spiral bound, and cut in the shape of the knitted object they're about which has some of the earlier patterns in there.) This book is a compilation and distillation of the first two. All those times you wish you could go back and rework? Yeah! I had a medium-quick glance at it last night.

In the front there is a new piece on hand/finger proportions and determining size that looks useful. She has a far more detailed discussion of "carrying color ahead" using two hands and consistant handage. There's a detailed discussion of the process of fulling the fisherman's mittens by hand (not washing machine) with pictures.

The patterns have been reformatted to the more current standard pattern writing style. Where the older books had paragraphs of text to plow through to find your size's mention in the string of all sizes, there are now sidebar grids of for size (across the top) do X (circle your column within) and then do Y for all sizes.

My old favorite of Striped Mittens is in there. I'm a real fan of wool mittens and two-color mittens in particular. The second color carried along behind forms a second layer. Okay, when it's cold here in New England, it's cold, winds can be brutal, and these mittens keep my hands happier than any others I've tried.