Not long ago I was offered the opportunity to review Hunter Hammersen’s latest offering: Curls 3, Versatile ,Wearable Wraps to Knit at any Gauge. I’ve been interested in knitting a “curl” since the first version of the book and clearly I have some catching up to do!
Curls 3 takes Hunter’s basic premise of the curl (a shawl knit from a point that grows until you like the size or you run out of yarn) and adds in colors and additional weights of yarn. Curls are perfect for that single special skein of yarn or for that gradient you have in your stash that you haven’t found a pattern for.
Curls 3 is beautifully produced. At the beginning of the book there is some explanation of how Curls are constructed in geometric shapes. Then there are some tips and tricks, followed by a discussion of needles sizing and gauge. There is discussion of how to use the charts for each design and some general blocking instructions. Finally there is a discussion of how to use your speckles and gradients in the Curls designs.
What follows are 11 unique Curl patterns. Each pattern has some explanation of the garment, instructions on how to knit the garment and several beautifully shot photos, allowing you to see how the Curl will look from different angles and worn different ways. When I received my copy I was eager to cast on one of the designs. I selected the Rhodonite pattern fairly quickly.
While the original was worked in DK yarn, I opted to work mine in a fingering weight yarn. At first I thought I would use some of my handspun singles, but I quickly changed to some lovely yarn from Stone Soup Fibers that I procured locally at a convention a few years ago. My yarn was a set of five 20g minis and a larger 50g skein of a complementary color.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br3VPQjFWry/
While the initial pattern repeat threw me off a bit (you start on the Wrong Side but there are twisted stitches and the like), by the time I went through it two or three times I could “read” my knitting and work virtually without the pattern. I was excited by this project because I just wanted to get to the next stripe and the next color, so I actually knit this project (650 yards total) in about 10 days. While I had been worried that by using fingering weight the finished object would be too small, the result is a lovely sizeable shawl that I’m excited to wear this winter!
I’m definitely going back to purchase the first volume of Curls – I could use more shawls and they’re fun to work!
A special thank you to the Hunter Hammersen and Pantsville Press who sent me a copy of Curls 3 (retail: $21.95) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.