I'm a nut ...

... a nut for history of knitting type books and a nut for ethnic knitting books. Books like Sheila McGregor's Traditional Fair Isle Knitting and Traditional Scandinavian Knitting, Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia, Marcia Lewandowski's Andean Folk Knits, as well as the Folk Knit series from Interweave that includes: Folk Shawls, Folk Socks, Folk Vests, and Folk Mittens are all well-thumbed books on my design shelf. I get lots of inspiration and great ideas from these as well as feeding my fascination with knitting old and new. I love reading these books, over and over again; each time I read them I get new ideas or learn an ancient technique that I never knew ... and my knitting is better because of these kind of books.

I just found out that a new book is coming in April -- I've actually pre-ordered it -- written by a fellow Association of Knitwear Designers member. Terri Shea has been working on a certification for museum studies and began her research on the Selbu knitting tradition in Norway. Her new book, Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition, contains the history of this unique cottage industry (that began with one young shepherdess tending her flock) and contains 30(!) patterns for mittens and gloves using the traditional designs of the Selbu. If you click on the link above, you can see sample pages of this fascinating work.

Go ahead (you know you want to) and pre-order this book -- should be here sometime around Easter so you can always say the Easter Bunny brought it!