Stitchers on your gift list? Boon of books will help

For those who stitch, books about needlework are welcome holiday gifts. Books recharge our batteries, offer new spins on old ideas and introduce us to new techniques we want to try. If your holiday gift list contains names of those who love to mess around with yarn and fabric, maybe one of these books will do:

. “Dyeing to Knit” by Elaine Eskesen. The author and owner of Pine Tree Yarns lives in Damariscotta where she has for many years engaged in the art of hand-dyeing yarn. “Any knitter can learn to dye,” she writes. She lays out the process before the reader, presenting information about color relationships, dyeing procedures, the design phase and patterns for knitting.

“Knitting,” she writes,” is now being augmented with a more creative approach … it is a creative outlet, and learning to dye your own yarns is another way to engage in this art form.”

The book focuses on dyeing protein fibers such as wool, mohair, silk and angora. Eskesen offers a variety of techniques for hand-coloring yarn, including painting, overdyeing, tie-dyeing, spotting and squirting.

In one section of the book, six yarn designers, including Bill Huntington, owner of Hope Spinnery in Hope, share their sources of inspiration. Waves inspire him.

Patterns in the book include baby sweaters, pullovers, children’s sweaters, scarves, mittens and vests.

. “Kaffe Fassett’s Museum Quilts: Designs Inspired by the Victoria and Albert Museum,” by Kaffe Fassett, with Liza Prior Lucy. As with all things Fassett, eye appeal is the word and the reason. The photos of the antique quilts that inspire Fassett’s designs and the ones that illustrate his “take” on those designs are enough to dazzle even the most jaded eye.

Fassett and Prior draw on the London museum’s scrap quilts dating from 1800-1990 to conjure up 23 new patchwork designs to inspire quilters of any skill level.

The book is divided into three sections: Utility quilts fashioned from simple shapes, traditional designs transformed by modern colors and show-stopper quilts that incorporate intricate piecing and applique techniques.

One of the showpiece quilts competing for attention in the book is a folk quilt appliqued with all manner of whimsical beasts – including human shapes.

Beginners at quilting will be drawn to the floral bricks or baby bricks patterns. And the truly accomplished quilter won’t be able to resist the Persian blue stars pattern.

Directions, patterns and diagrams for the quilts are included in the book.

. “Folk Hats: 32 Knitting Patterns and Tales From Around the World” by Vicki Square. Every country has its hats – America has the baseball cap, France has the beret and Scotland has the tam. Square’s book offers hat designs from those and many other countries, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Japan, Bolivia and Finland.

It won’t take experienced knitters long to home in on a design that fits their ethnic background or to make a hat that fits an ethnic alter-ego. I focused on the gondolier’s boater hat – even though I am not Italian – which is constructed from 50 feet of knitted I-cord coiled and sewn into the hat shape.

Many of the hats in the book are fanciful and playful – like the Yoruba bird hat from Nigeria, the samurai kabuto hat from Japan and the four winds hat from Lapland.

“Hats,” the author writes, “precede us … and speak volumes before its wearer utters a word.” Square’s book allows you to knit what you want your hat to say.

. “Knitted Babes: Five Dolls and Their Wardrobes to Knit and Stitch” by Claire Garland. Sometimes knitters just want to have fun. Garland’s book is a good place to start. Clearly, when she put this book together she was channeling her inner child. Knitting the doll requires knowledge of two stitches – knit and purl – and how to increase and decrease. Some of the doll clothes are sewn and others are knit – including tiny shoes. The doll has ropey arms and legs, which some knitters may want to fatten up.

The basic doll form is dressed up in various ways to create many “personalities” – such as Dot Pebbles, DD Diva and Rudy Ranch. The doll’s wardrobe is dreamy. You don’t have to be a little girl to enjoy this book.

. “Yarn Harlot” by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Are you tired of knitting? Do you want to lay around and read? Then try this collection of essays about knitting. My favorite – so far – is the one about the squirrel that stole skeins of yarn Pearl-McPhee hung on her back fence to dry. She also confides that she keeps her best yarn in her freezer to protect it from moths.

Pearl-McPhee writes a knitting blog on the Web. Go to Google, type in “yarn harlot,” you’ll go there.

. And last but not least, there’s “I Can’t Wait,” a story about the red thread of life, by illustrator Serge Bloch and author Davide Cali. The narrator follows the thread from childhood to first love, to marriage and beyond. The thread serves as a metaphor for the journey that is life. It embellishes, comes undone, snakes out of control, flutters in unexpected ways and binds one to the other. This is a small book with a large message.

Give books like these as holiday gifts, and who knows, you may get a pair of hand-knit socks or a quilt in return. Call your local bookseller to learn more about these books.

Snippets

Fiber artist and felt maker Heather Kerner has established Spiralworks, a fiber studio and craft gallery in Canaan. The grand opening is set for 6-9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, on Route 2, across from Soll’s Antiques.

Kerner’s sculpted woolen vessels have been featured in Interweave Knits magazine, “Fiberarts Design Book 7” and “Knit one, Felt Two.”

Studio hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. most weeks, by chance or by appointment. For more information, call 474-6519, or visit www.spiralworksfelt.com.

Ardeana Hamlin may be reached at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.