Open spaces
Susan Guagliumi’s ‘book that would not end’ is finished. As the cover says, there are chapters on eyelets, ladders and slits and these huge open spaces are very different from a bit of hand-tooled lace. Many samples will produce gorgeous garments, but definitely need to be worn over something if you’d prefer not to be arrested! The book is 8.5 x 11 in and by increasing the size it saved about 40 pages, which translates into lower costs. There are 225 pages with over 300 inspirational swatch photos and charts. We’ve not seen such diverse possibilities of eyelets, slits and ladders in all their extremes and variations. Susan has also included photos of fabulous garments by some of her favourite designers and the designs are awesome. Written in the style we all know, the book is suitable for owners of all brands and every gauge of knitting machine.
Looking through the book, we can see the way a machine-knitter’s mind works. Bill King often reminds us that by changing one factor we stumble upon something new and much more interesting. What if I knit more or less rows between repeats? What if I try it with an odd or even number of stitches? What if I cross the stitches in the same direction, or alternate it? There are a huge number of charts, swatches and photos and Matthew Bragg at Softbyte came to the rescue with DesignaKnit. It cut Susan’s time massively, using the pre-designed symbols and grids. There are no garments, but free patterns are on her website. The patterns, swatch photos and how-to videos on her blog will whet your appetite and all details are at www.susanguagliumi.com
