Book full of 1-skein knitting projects

Knitters who have single skeins of yarn rolling around in their knitting baskets don’t have to fret any longer about how to use them.

Yarn shop owners from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Ore., have pooled their original patterns to create the 239-page book, “One Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn Shop Favorites,” edited by Judith Durant and published by Storey Publishing. The book is already one of my favorites, and all I’ve done so far is put yellow sticky notes on the pages containing the patterns contributed by staff members of the KnitWit Yarn Shop in Portland.

KnitWit staff members Nancy Miller, Leanne Walker, Judy Warde, Deirdra L. Logan and Hannah Fettig contributed nine designs to “One Skein Wonders” – the wine gift bag, seafoam shawl, twisted spiral scarf, crocheted bag, coffee mitt, ribbed cap, sequined barrette, crocheted heart pin, lace bookmark and crocheted catch-all bowl. Other shop owners throughout the United States contributed designs for an ice scraper mitt, socks, bags of various sizes, caps, fingerless gloves, baby sweaters, shawls, mittens, a tea cozy, a pillow and other projects that require one skein or less.

Some of the projects in the book, for example, are so simple that the instructions consist of two rows, only one of which is repeated to achieve the resulting Super Simple Triangle Shawl, a pattern created by Marji’s Yarncrafts in Granby, Conn.

The book is divided into handy sections according to yarn weight – bulky, heavy worsted, worsted-mohair, worsted, sport, fingering and novelty yarns – making it easy to grab a skein of your choice and get started.

Each pattern is illustrated with a black-and-pink rendering of the item to be knit or crocheted, and a page number refers the knitter to the section, occupying the center 24 pages of the book, of color photos of each project.

Although the projects are not graded according to difficulty, they range from easy to not so easy to keep knitters and crocheters of all abilities happily occupied. Some of the designs are felted.

One useful thing I found missing in the book is a list of the yarns used to make the designs and how to contact the manufacturers. But it’s easy enough to go online, type in the name of the yarn and arrive at the Web site of the company that makes it, such as Catalina Baby Alpaca Yarns, Lang Yarns or Karabella Yarns.

The book does include a section listing the names of the stores that contributed designs for the book, contact information and a description of each store. The KnitWit Yarn Shop in Portland is described as “in a storefront with a high, pressed tin ceiling, original wood floors and furniture designed by the owners … freshly baked, storemade treats and cappuccino.”

As for me, I’ve got my eye on the Ela’s Favorite Hat design submitted by the Knit-Knot Studio in Portland, Ore., and the crocheted Heart Pin pattern from the KnitWit Yarn Shop.

The concept of a compendium of one-skein projects is not a new one, but it is, apparently, a popular one. “One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit or Crochet” by Leigh Radford and published by Interweave Press last year recently won the Craftrends ACE Award for Best Knitting and Crochet Book.

Snippets

. If anyone has an original user’s manual for a Singer Touch and Sew Model 603E sewing machine, and the manual for using the cams with that machine, please give me a call.

. Www.magknits.com combines knitting and writing with knitting challenges, such as What Would Snow White Knit?

. Knitters will find great free patterns available at www.tahkistacycharles.com.

. Look for free patterns for bazaar items at www.aokcorral.com and www.allfreecrafts.com.

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.