Review: Elements of Style

Did you see those stunning Bijouterie earrings in the latest issue of Knitty? Weren’t they gorgeous?

Now, picture an entire book filled with equally beautiful knitted jewelry, all from the same, talented mind.

Yes. Exactly. Beautiful stuff. Do I need to say more?

Oh, really? Seriously? You want more?

Okay. This book is all about jewelry–knitted and crocheted jewelry. And almost without exception, I love just about everything in here. (And the couple of patterns I don’t love, I still like.) There’s nothing in here that’s ugly or ill-thought out. Nothing bulky or trite. It’s creative, and lovely.

Review: Teach Yourself Visually Knitting Design

Part of the excellent “Teach Yourself Visually” series, this book has a lot of what you’d expect–first, and foremost, lots of pictures. Just about every stitch, every method, every step along the way gets a photo or an illustration, so you’re not left guessing as to what, exactly, you need to do to line your knitted bag, or what a sock’s heel flap should look like. As you’d expect, the pictures are clear and basic. Not fancy, “art” shots that wouldn’t really show you the details you need, but simple, bread-and-butter pictures that do the job.

Review: The Knitter’s Handy book of Sweater Patterns

Do you knit sweaters? Do you like different shapes? Do you hate having to do all the math for designing your own sweaters, but don’t want to be tied to pre-written sweater patterns?

This book is for you.

Taking the basic sweater shapes–Drop-Shoulder, Modified Drop-Shoulder, Set-In Sleeve, Saddle-Shoulder, Raglan, and Seamless Yoke–this book tells you EXACTLY what you need to do to make one.

Review: Knitting Around

Well, most knitters have heard of Elizabeth Zimmerman–and if you haven’t, you should get to your local library as quickly as your feet can take you to check her out. She’s the original knitting maverick, and the embodiment of a Thinking Knitter. She was the first writer to really talk about knitting as important in and of itself, rather than just a means to a nice little sweater. She encouraged people to try new things, to experiment, and above all, not to allow themselves to be restricted by what was written in a pattern. Trying to knit a sweater in a yarn you love but your gauge is different than the pattern? Adapt! Want to add in cables to the basic shape? Go ahead! Have a crazy idea in your head? Give it a try and see what happens! Not only that, she encouraged Continental-style knitting, and knitting in the round whenever possible–both of which are my preferred methods. (Largely, no doubt, because of these two books.)

Review: Vogue Knitting

As comprehensive knitting references go, it’s hard to beat this one. Vogue Knitting, in fact, is so nice, they produced it twice–the orignal version came out in 1989, and they revised and updated it in 2002. I got my original copy as a Christmas gift in 1989. I had only been knitting for a year or so and hadn’t yet tackled cables or lace, and barely new what intarsia was, and this book was a door-opener. I basically knitted my way through the book. While the rest of the family took post-turkey dinner naps, I sat with the book, a pair of knitting needles and some yarn, giving a try to each new concept as it came up. Cables? Hmm, let’s try that. Lace? Let’s see, yarn over, knit-two-together … I can do that. It was completely rewarding and enlightening at the same time. By the time I’d gotten through the book, I felt prepared to tackle just about anything.