How To Make A Hedi Kyle Panel Book

I have been playing with panel books again. This week it was because I received notice from CBBAG Saskatchewan that the new book swap is officially on. There are 16 participants, and each will produce 16 copies of a particular binding. I chose Hedi Kyle’s panel book, since I had already been working with it.

I had saved the original drawings from an on-line copy of Hedi Kyle’s 2005 presentation to the Guild of Bookworkers.

The structure is, like many very clever things, extraordinarily simple to produce once you grasp the concept.

To produce your sample panel book, first print the pdf. I have sized it to print on 8.5 x 11″ or A4 paper. (I recommend using card stock for this project.) The instructions for producing the book are printed right on the page. One tip: you might want to pre-pierce the corners and the ends of the cutting lines. This makes it easier to cut accurately and helps to prevent tearing.

Should you wish to make a book without lines printed on it, use the printed copy as a template. It is also quite simple to design your own. The proportions of the panel can be changed easily, but remember to keep enough paper at the top and bottom and between the panels to support the structure. You should also make the hinge area (the part that connects the panel to the supporting accordion, one of which is shown between the two right hand pointy fingers in the image above) no smaller than 1/4″ (0.65 cm).

Whether you make my version or design your own, you should end up with something that looks a lot like this.

I also spent part of the week designing a DIY valentine card. I will be posting a pdf and instructions for that on February 5. As a teaser, here’s the envelope.

And in case you were the least bit concerned about the decapitated earless chipmunk on Friday, I did finish him.   ; ]

And now for something completely different: (If you don’t care about knitting, you can skip this part.)

I am knitting in the evenings. I finished the grey shawl that I started before Christmas, then began working on David’s vest. Since I am using yarn I had in stock, I made substitutions in the colours. I did a temporary cast on and started knitting from the beginning of the pattern stitches. (I prefer to pick up stitches and knit the bottom welt down from the body as it makes repairs easier later.) Having knit enough of the pattern to decide I wasn’t happy with it —and feeling a little anxious about the size— I took what I had done off the needles and tried it on David. It was huge! (I did knit a sample and measure it first, I did, I did!) So I not only had to rip back what I had done and re-arrange the colour selection, I had to recalculate the pattern for eleven repeats rather than twelve. This was further complicated by the fact that David and I had decided to place the centre of the vest in a different part of the pattern than was used in the original.

I did another temporary cast-on and knit the welt. This meant I could bind off the bottom edge and try it on David before picking up stitches from the temporary cast-on and starting the pattern. It fit!

I have never tried to pick up stitches from a 2 x 2 two-colour rib before. The chain stitch I had used as the cast-on did not simply slip free one stitch at a time. Every time the knitting changed colour and from knit to purl or back again, I had to pull the cast-on yarn through from one side of the knitting to the other. It took several days, as I could only bear to do a few inches at a time.

I hate learning experiences.

Everything seems to be going smoothly now, and the vest looks like this:

Since I was being frustrated by the vest, I started something else that was simpler. The shawl was based mostly on this pattern.

I changed the centre back to a three stitch band (the original is one stitch) to match the rest of the shawl, decreased the distance between eyelet rows as I approached the outer edge, and added the picot edging from this pattern.

The whole thing was knit in a relatively chunky yarn.

Whew!

 

 

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