On Rowan ...

This week I heard or read somewhere that Rowan was not for beginners. The person really complained about the books not having any instructions for beginners and that the patterns were quite difficult.

Now I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate beginning knitters and I support books for them. I was a beginning knitter not long ago, and I'm still far from experienced. But on the other hand, I don't think every single book or magazine shouldn't have chapters for beginners. I mean, there are plenty of books out there who do have those chapters and are thus great for beginners, but also for knitters further along. Now isn't it normal there are book that don't have those beginners instructions? Should every book have these chapters?

As I said, I do think not every book should contain these explanations. I don't need them, so I prefer them not to be in books. I have enough books laying around with all kind of basic instructions so I can refer to those.

Now I don't think Rowan books are to complicated or for experienced knitters. Given, Rowan doesn't have many charts or stuff like that. It might be confusing, and some patterns do take a few reads. But apart from that I don't think the patterns are that difficult.

I like Rowan, a lot!!! I recently finished up Carolina from Rowan 39 as a custom knit. Not something I would knit for myself. But finishing that one I allowed myself to knit on other things again. Mainly to restart a sweater from Rowan I started last Winter.




Lorelei from Rowan 40

Last Winter I started it following the instructions, which means you start with the back and knit back and forth. There were 2 reasons I didn't like this. Purling fair-isle (and 3stranded knitting patterns) is not easy (me thinks) and I prefer knitting fair isle. Plus I didn't look forward to sewing in a ton of ends (most of the colour strips are uneven so you couldn't carry the yarn along the edge).

So I ripped it and restarted, knitting in the round this time till the armpits. I'm going to do the same with the sleeves. I do realize this might change my gauge, but I'll just pay attention a bit more.

The not so fun side about this is that one row takes ages! Last Winter I remember knitting 3 or 4 colour strips in no time, and now I'm only in the second strip on my third evening of knitting (keep in mind I have been quite tired and 2 nights in a row we went out so I didn't have much knitting time at all).

I promissed myself I could get myself yarn for another knit if I finished up Carolina. Because I can't make up my mind about which of the patterns in the new Rowan book I put it on hold. Maybe I'll try to finish up another project first (so many on the needles).

The choices :






Similar, right? On the left is the Fyne vest, on the right the Fyne tunic. The pattern is the same (I mean the fair-isle pattern), but of course the lenght and design is a bit different. And the colours are quite different. Colour-wise I lean more towards the tunic, but I think I'll get started with the vest. The ribbing is done in a dark purple, totally my colour.



Now you might ask why I keep the colours of the designs. First of all I like the colours. They are my thing (in both the Tyne and Lorelei). Plus I don't feel like changing the colours in such a complicated knit when I don't really need to. Like I want to knit Venezia in the future but in totally different colours! So it's not like I always stick to those colours. Though, like some studies say, many people stick to the colours. I guess the designers just pick nice colours.



Oh, and there are about 10 more designs in Rowan 42 that I want to knit, like in almost every Rowan magazine! :D