Hello, Fate. Nice to see you again.
Warning: slightly heavy on knitting history.
Remember a post or two back, when I mentioned a desire to do a Hetalia fanart about different knitting traditions?
Yeah. I went to the library today and picked up Nicky Epstein's Knitting on Top of the World: The Global Guide to Traditions, Techniques, and Design. I recognize her name from Vogue Knitting, among other places, and figured "what the heck".
I'm in love. (With the book, not Ms. Epstein.)
The book's broken into parts by geographical location: Far North (Scandanavia/Baltics), WIndswept Isles (Britain), Old World(Central/Eastern Europe), Mediterranean, Far East, and New World. Each section has two subsections: history/techniques of the various countries, and patterns inspired by said history/techniques. The patterns themselves are kinda "meh" (there's only a handful of garments I'd make as-is), but the history. Dear Lord, the history. Guh. Screw Wikipedia, this has all the research I could need for this fanart. Ever. (Well, I'll probably snag some of Julie's articles too, but seriously.) And some positively drool-worthy pictures of historic knitting. (Such as Latvian mittens of the insane variety, with the wee braids and some kind of funky fringe edging. I counted six colors to a row in one pattern. Six. Guh.) Bohus Stickning is in there, as are Orenburg Shawls (aka "wedding ring" shawls), Aran sweaters, and crazy-ass Turkish socks. She even gets the origin of knitting right, unlike a lot of "knitting history" books that are Western-biased. (Knitting was invented by Copts and Muslims in Egypt, spread to Spain via the Moors, and then went to the rest of Europe after the Crusades. Betcha didn't know that.)
Oh, and the clincher? There's a pattern for a knitted dragon, inspired by amigurumi crochet. EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
So. Forget the patterns, for the most part; I'd buy the book for the history alone.
Oh yeah. Julie, aka the Samurai Knitter. I keep forgetting to explain who she is, even though I link to her fairly often (that's her, in the links above). One of only a handful of bloggers that I read regularly, she is interested in everything. History, botany, food, crafts, numbers. Heck, she did a post a while back on the history of Brussel Sprouts. And not only does she do darn good research, she makes it understandable for us mere mortals. (And the snark. Can't forget the snark.) All this she manages to do while knitting, spinning, and raising a three-year-old. Love her. (No, she is not the person who introduced me to Hetalia. Although I might drag her into that fandom fairly soon.)
Still sewing eleventy million beads onto this shawl. Almost halfway done. Almost.
Anyone wanting to make me a very happy dragon might consider the aforementioned book as a Christmas gift.