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.

The author says in the introduction: “The people in this book are not the only creative people working with knitting today, but are the ones who I have come to know and work with through KnitKnit, the knitters I have long admired who were available to take part in the project, or the knitters I found through a very pleasant research process.” So, this isn’t really the kind of book you pick up because you want a knitting pattern–although there are definitely some good ones in here. What you DO buy this book for is sheer inspiration.

The self-professed aim for this book, as stated by the authors: “Skinny yarns get a really bad rap. Knitters have somehow gotten the idea that they’re slow, fussy, or old-fashioned. We’re here to prove otherwise. Thin yarns offer a world of possibilities; in fact, they can do anything a thick yarn can do and more–and often, they do it better.” Well! As a fan of not-chunky yarns myself, this is definitely an objective I can get behind!

One of my favorite things is that each design comes with suggestions for things you can do to personalize it. Suggestions for lengthening, or eliminating sleeves. Making cardigans into pullovers. Turning a tank top into a skirt… Which is particularly helpful because, I’ll admit, that last one is not something I would have thought of myself, but judging by the photo, it certainly works. And, the designs themselves? I think they’re lovely. In fact, there’s not a single one that I didn’t like, even if I’m not itching to pick up my needles and knit every single one of them.

All of which ties into my knitting library. Last time I checked, I had something like 126 knitting books sitting on my shelves, along with dozens more about spinning, color, crochet, embroidery, quilting, sewing, dyeing. I can’t seem to help myself–when I love something, I want to read about it. And if I’m going to read about it, why not share my thoughts with you? I mean, anything that gives me an excuse to read more books about knitting has to be good, right? And since I’ve been reading about knitting for over two decades now, I’m pretty well informed about what makes a knitting book a good knitting book.