Unexpected Knitting

Well, going through The Art of Knitting got me to pull out Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting again. When I started rereading it, I realized that like Teva Durham and Barbara Walker, Debbie New discusses her patterns and knitting techniques in a way that inspires me to adopt her adventurous approach to knitting.

Unexpected Knitting covers a range of techniques, some of which I think she introduced previously in knitting magazines. The book is divided into ten "galleries," each of which introduces a new technique -- swatchless knitting, free form knitting, scribble lace knitting, swirl knitting, sculptural knitting, virtual knitting, cellular automation knitting, ouroborus knitting, labyrinth knitting, and miscellaneous. Each gallery begins with an introduction that includes both examples of Debbie New's own work and her detailed explanation of the technique; she follows with several patterns that demonstrate the technique.

Although the patterns are amazing (if not all necessarily my taste), it is really the pictures of Debbie New's creations and the sections describing each new technique that make the book one of my favorites. I've definitely been inspired by several techniques in the book, most notably scribble lace knitting (which is essentially knitting with stripes of thick and thin yarns on large needles) and swirl knitting (creating sinuous curves and swirls by decreasing or increasing across a row). These two techniques inspired two freeform capes:Cobweb and Wedding.