My Horse

I have a horse.  I don't have to feed him or clean out his stall, but I do ride him once in a while.  His name is High.  I've been on my horse recently.

One of the requirements for part 1 of the Master Knitter course is a 2-4 page, single-spaced report on Blocking Knitted Items.  Feeling like I'm back in college, I pulled out all my knitting books and began the research.  Quickly I realized that while some books had lots to say about blocking, others had none or very little.  I was appalled by one in particular,  "Finishing Techniques for Hand Knitters," by Sharon Brant, which devotes a three sentence paragraph to the topic.  Surely a book titled, Finishing Techniques....... should be expected to cover blocking fairly thoroughly, since blocking is the finishing technique which makes all the difference in whether a garment or item looks "home made" or "expertly hand crafted."  (There are other problems with this book, which I won't go into here).

So I've been on my high horse, ranting to anyone who will listen.  Finally, I posted a review of the book on Amazon.com (where I'd purchased it), and sent an e-mail to Rowan Yarns, who employ Ms. Brant as a teacher and designer.

Bottom Line:  If you want a really good book on Finishing Knits,  get Nancie Wiseman's "The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques."  Don't waste your money on Sharon Brant's book.