Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters' Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures by Kay Gardiner, Ann Meador Shayne, Steve Gross (Photographer)

Product Details

Synopsis

Enjoy the practical advice, real-life knitting instruction, and irreverent humor of Yankee Kay Gardiner and Tennessean Ann Shayne, the duo behind the renowned knitting web log masondixonknitting.com. The ladies of Mason-Dixon Knitting will take you on a thrilling adventure through Knitopia, a place where knitting and creativity unite through the zaniest knitted items imaginable. Kay and Ann reveal that a pattern is a starting line, a launching pad, the front doors of Saks the day after Thanksgiving: oh, the potential!

Mason-Dixon Knitting is a collection of unbelievable patterns, a how-to manual, and a crazy quilt of hilarious narrative, all in one. In this book, Kay and Ann chitchat their way through a series of more than thirty incredible patterns. Drawing creative inspiration from their surroundings, they present colorful blankets, sassy nightgowns, a delicate curtain, and much more to reveal that knitting can weave its way into just about every aspect of life. Most of these projects are the epitome of ease, but you can make them as simple or complicated as you prefer.

Kay and Ann invite you to use your creative vision to interpret each pattern and give it your own personal touch. Full-color photography of these delightful home- and family-inspired knits accompanies each project. Along the way, Kay and Ann will introduce you to incredible knitting personalities, share their own knitting experiences, and present eye-popping knitting phenomena. Mason-Dixon Knitting explores the humor, fun, and outrageous possibilities of a realm in which knitting is much more than a craft—it’s a lifestyle.


Inspiration, Guidance, and 30Projects to Knit

Featuring: Technical hints; Great (knitted) things you will do; How to cope with disaster; Must-knit tv; Mistakes you will definitely make; Knitting for the common good; Knitting something that looks like something else

Library Journal

New Yorker Gardiner and Texan Shayne cowrite a popular blog called Mason-Dixon Knitting. Here they share the joy of knitting with a wider audience in a book that, were it a movie, would rate as a three-star comedy. Yes, there's knitting-some 30 fun and inventive knitting patterns, e.g., Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono, Mason-Dixon After-Dark Nightie)-but there's also a hilarious knitting history time line, interviews with creative knitters, sidebars on topics like British slang, field-tested favorite TV shows to knit by, places in which the authors have tried to knit and failed, and essays on the joy of community knitting. An excellent annotated bibliography of "books to lead you to great heights of creative genius" rounds off this entertaining read. Highly recommended for all public libraries. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Biography

Kay Gardiner learned to knit as a child, but put aside her needles for twenty years to obtain a law degree from Columbia, become an assistant United States attorney in Manhattan, and start a family. Luckily for us, she returned to knitting with a vengeance. After stints in the New York publishing world, Ann Shayne returned to her hometown of Nashville to edit BookPage. She has since chosen to devote her time to her family—and knitting.Two years ago, Kay and Ann met on an online knitting-message board, and their correspondence has grown into a “close-knit” community of more than ten thousand who regularly log on to masondixonknitting.com.