Inspired Shawls by Laura Zukaite

I interviewed Laura back in May of 2010, you can read that interview here.

I also reviewed her previous book Luxe Knits here.

Laura's publisher just sent me a copy of her newest book Inspired Shawls to review as well. 

It's got patterns for 15 shawls, all of which were inspired by the handicraft traditions she observed during a trip to South American. All the shawls are beautifully photographed and all include a schematic which is something many accessory books often skip. I'm often annoyed by this especially if the photos and description are unclear as to the shape and construction method. The designs employ a wide variety of hand-dyed yarns, including Madelinetosh, Artyarns, Shalimar Yarns, Amano, Miss Babs, Malabrigo, Be Sweet, Hedgehog Fibers, Sweet Georgia Yarns, and The Plucky Knitter. There are a variety of shapes, triangles, half circles and a colourful ruana. The book has a lot of both texture and colourwork used in various ways. Many of the stitch patterns are both written out and charted, the book includes charts for the colourwork patterns, and there are detailed instructions on special techniques which include embroidery, and tassels. One thing which isn't included is skill level ratings. I don't like them as I feel they create more problems than they address. I have written in detail on this topic here if you would like to know more about this topic.

Oddly the book has not been loaded into Ravelry which I mentioned to the publisher contact when I let them know the date this post would be going up.