Progress

 

One of the earliest decisions I made about this project was how I was going to actually bind it. The best way to construct a case incorporating the knitting on the spine is with a binding I learned from Todd Pattison - organizer of this project.

This is an easy leather spine binding. Above are two of the books I made in class. The structure is brilliant and hides a lot of problems. 

The cover is constructed so that the boards allow you tuck the spine covering underneath them. 

Voila!

When I took the workshop I made a sample of the structure for reference as well as note taking. Because the knitting will be so much thicker than pared leather I have to put a filler board under the covering board to keep things even. 

For my teensy little knitting 

 

I made a weensy little text block.

Rounded it,

and constructed the case.

My idea of putting a filler board in place worked very well. I used thin mat board instead of book binder's board. 

So the verdict is yes! This is good. I also learned a lot of things I need to incorporate into the final spine, such as, longer turn ins for the head and tail. I actually thought turning the knitting under wouldn't work, but it seems to be okay. This was not long enough to be very neat, but that's okay - that's what mockup's are for. 

Much less progress on the pattern finalizing even though I felt like I was coloring all afternoon. I am itching to be knitting! But this is so much easier said than done. 

 I'm pretty set on the title pattern. I think it will be fine. But trying to recreate the red poppy on the Drinker pattern is even more problematic than I thought. There will be so many colors to be carried across the back of the work. That's where I think the actual problem will come in. I finally decided I need to sleep on it and come back to it tomorrow. I might have to switch to some of the Pennsylvania Dutch illuminations I love so much. Maybe I can make that work better. Last resort, I will just choose bands of patterns from Fair Isle Knitting.