Sources of Inspiration

I have more than one book I turn to when looking for inspiration. The book depends on what I want to do that hour, that day or that week. I collect reference books for knitting, crochet and quilting. I use them when I am feeling bored with what I am doing. Going slowly through the pages of this type of book, with my stash of yarns and fabrics in mind can lead to lots of new ideas. My oldest "craft bible" is the red Knitting book published by Abbey Press. I bought this book more than 30 years ago when I wanted to do more with knitting than garter stitch. It is starting to fall apart but I still love it's patterns, pictures and accurate instructions. It has followed me through getting married, living on Guam, in Vallejo, San Diego, Murray, Stansbury Park and now Apache Junction. With all the moves there was never any thought that this book would be given away with all the others I thinned out each time I needed to pack.

I also make use of some of the newer books in my collection. I have 2 of Vogue's Stitchionaries and I have found them to be a lot of fun. As you can see here I am using the chevron rib to make the red scarf that may end up in my Etsy shop. Then again I may just keep it for myself. Everyone needs a bit of power red in their wardrobe. I haven't finished it so I haven't decided. The pattern is a 16 row repeat so it is a bit more complicated than I usually do but the resulting texture is very pleasing and worth the effort and concentration I think.

Quilting, like knitting and crocheting, has been a part of my life for a long time. I got started on it by watching Georgia Bonesteel's PBS series. I have a few of her books. Her one block at a time method fit my life at the time with apartment living and three small children. I also made use of the "Quilt in a Day series when I helped a Navy wives group make a raffle quilt each year to help support communities events for kids like a breakfast with Santa Claus. I have shown in the top picture my latest quilt block book. Just looking through it puts me in idea overload.

I know the blog carnival topic was "Craft Bible" but I am a Gemini with crafting ADD so I just have to share more than one. Thanks for reading. If you want to read more posts on this topic from other bloggers you can use the blog carnival link on the left to take you to them.