Book Review: Faux Taxidermy Knits by Louise Walker

I bought this book on my own - no one asked me to review it :)


I haven't knit anything out of this book yet but I have many patterns marked. This book is too adorable for words but I'll try to form the words to do a review because, well, the review would be weird without words.

I found out about Louise Walker through her Etsy shop because I was looking for taxidermied animals. Fake ones, for my office at work, as I'm wont to do. I still plan on buying one of the kits because they come with everything you need, including the backing. I'm leaning towards the T-Rex head, personally. But check out her shop for kits and patterns, every one more awesome than the last.

Her book came out in 2014 and includes 2 sections: Wearables and Habitat. We have 15 patterns, ranging from basic knitting level to advanced. The basic patterns are just as entertaining and intriguing as the advanced and intermediate patterns. Take a run through the patterns on Ravelry here.

I'm going to run through my absolute favorites that I plan on casting on soon:

The fox stole, which is also the cover photo, is a must have for me. I love my scarves but the thought of wearing this foxy fox around my neck in the winter makes me very happy! It's an intermediate pattern with quite a bit of sewing (the body, ears, legs, tail are all separate pieces) but I'm quite ok with that.

The Polar Bear Paw Mittens are a must for the cold Midwestern winters (with this winter being the exception to that...weird weather). These are 2 color mittens with afterthought thumbs.

The Mink Wrap is another awesome scarflike wrap made to look like the fancy pants mink stoles. Made with 3 different colors you are basically knitting 2 minks and putting them together with a hook and eye closure. Very high society!

We move on to the Habitat patterns. Naturally I want the moose head and will most likely buy the kit to get the backing and such. My wall is begging for this guy. Yours probably is too. Even without the kit, the book gives pretty detailed finishing instructions on how to get your moose properly put together and mounted.

My kitchen is begging for some pheasants! Knit with super bulky yarn and being a beginner level pattern, I should be able to get a nice line of pheasants knit up quickly

The Bear Coasters are also on the list. They look like tiny bearskin rugs for your mug. Love them!

While I don't plan on knitting this one, the one advanced pattern in the book is impressive. The Tiger Rug. This is rug-sized for your floor and is really well done. Magnificent beast!

All in all, this book is well done with beautiful photographs, detailed patterns and lots of instructions. Love animals! But knit them, don't hurt them.

Purchase from Amazon

Take One Down Pass It Around

I've been enjoying the whole microbrew/craft beer movement that has been happening lately and Indianapolis is doing really well at keeping up with the trend. For the most part, I've never been a beer drinker, usually sticking to water or Coke while out at bars. Then I dated a homebrewer and, while that relationship ended fairly quickly, I discovered that I really love GOOD beer. My quest to try craft beers began.

Friday night, I went out with the data team from work to Union Brewing Company in Carmel, IN. They had a Groupon for a flight of beers and a t-shirt for, I think, $12. I'm used to flights being shot glasses of beer. Not at UBC! They gave us generous samples of 7 different beers.  Good place to try out if you are in the area, they back the Monon and, while it was still too chilly to go outside, it will be awesome when it warms up. They don't really offer food except on certain days, but food trucks make regular stops there.

 Doesn't this look inviting??

Today was the Jay County Fiber Festival. A larger blog post coming on that in a few days. It was pretty great :)

I got my shipment of yarn from loveknitting.com to start my first cardigan. It's really beautiful yarn and I'm excited to start. Since it's my first huge project, I'm carefully reading the pattern and making sure I have the right measurements and understand everything before I cast on. I've casted on in giddy excitement before and I usually had to frog the project back out. I really don't want to do that with this! I'm using the Iced Cardigan pattern from Knitty.com mainly because I saw it being worked on in The Knitgirllls podcast and it looked like a good starter for me.

 Colorway: Bakery

I'm still working on my Chicago Adventure socks and am working the heel flap (STILL!) of the first sock. I'm getting ready to cast on my friend's socks too so that she can get them fairly soon and then I won't have any knitting obligations on my plate :)

My knitting has slowed a bit because I was finishing Ashfall by Mike Mullin. Very good book and since I haven't mastered reading while knitting, the knitting took a backseat. Of course I've started a new book, The Sixth Extinction, so we'll see what happens.

Ah, I need to be independently wealthy....