New Hot Fair Isle Book / The Elusive Folca Box

Lizabeth had a copy of this new book at Ferals (our nickname for our Fair Isle knitting group) last week. Boy is it amazing. The stitch patterns are pretty traditional but the garment designs are really great. Go here to The Needle Arts Bookshop for a look at several of the patterns. It's the same price pretty much as going through the Kinokuniya bookstore here in town ('cept you'll have to pay shipping) - which is what I did to order a bunch for our group. You can always order from Kinokuniya - but it's nice if you actually live near one of their bookstores so you can pick books up and not pay shipping. They don't charge you for what you order until it comes in. Here is the part of their website that tells the locations of their U.S. stores. If you go through Kinokuniya, you'll need the ISBN which is: 978-4-529-04676-3

I was pretty thrilled to finally find a source for the Folca Box. Purlwise first blogged about it on April 20, 2009 on her blog, and her pictures are MUCH better than mine.

The place she found it has gone out of business - but thankfully - an Etsy Vendor who has actually lived in Japan has found the right place to import them. I have a feeling she is the only American Vendor for them and she just got a big order in! Susan is very nice to deal with and has her own knitting et al blog called Fleegle. Here is the link for her Etsy Store called "The Gossamer Web." Note that she sells cobweb and other laceweight yarns that she dyes herself. Not that there are any lace knitters here in Seattle, heh! She dyes really lovely colors! There is a Gossamer Web group on Ravelry too which posts about new additions to the store.

The little Folca box measurements are:

Closed: 4" x 2.5" x 1.5"

Open: 7.5" x 5" x .5"

The Big blue compartment is only 2" by 3" and a squeek.

The fun is trying to find some tiny Japanese snips that will actually fit in that little compartment. The smallest embroidery scissors are usually 3.5" so no-go. Also, a tape measure. I've bought a regular coated sewing tape measure - cut off about 6 inches - and folded that in half for measuring gauge swatches. You could also try folding scissors as an idea as long as they are not thick.

I um...er...found I needed more than one, and also that I like to have one each for several knitting bags. They are very sturdy little guys and stay snapped together. Spread the word!

Are all Knitters and Spinner enablers? It's kind of a disease, isn't it!