At one point a few years ago, I mentioned that I would occasionally provide book reviews. It seems like I forgot all about that! During my recent knitting spree, I thought about how useful this book is and decided to try book reviews again.
I have probably mentioned before that I consider myself and advanced beginner knitter. Since I don't knit on any consistent basis, I tend to forget some of the very basics. By very basics, I mean things like how to cast on and cast off. Whenever I start a new knitting project, I have spread out in an arc on the floor around me the following: print out of the pattern, Vogue Knitting, notebook for taking notes and if learning a new technique my laptop.
This book is definitely my go-to whenever I need to refresh any of my knitting techniques. I realize there are many, many knitting books on the market and I looked through a lot of them before buying this one. Vogue Knitting in my opinion has everything in an easy to find format with clear illustrations and photographs.
I haven't used this book for any stitches (I don't make anything with fancy stitches yet), but if the directions are anything like the basics, I am sure they are well explained. What I have been using the book for is basic terminology (ssk, etc. - can't think of any others off the top of my hand). The book has a wonderful way of cross referencing everything so you are bound to find it.
One of my favorite things about the book though is that it does a wonderful job explaining the techniques of knitting. For example in the section for increases, not only does it show all types of increases, it also includes a short blurb on when a certain increase would be used. I find that very helpful in understanding something since I need to know the "why" as well as the "how".
All in all this book is in heavy rotation from Nov. through Feb., which tends to be my knitting season!
You certainly did a fine job on the fish hat! So cute! I also think it's great to have the videos on the computer today. I recently learned how to do the magic loop that way. One book that still impresses me was written by Barbara Walker many years ago. She showed how to diagram cable patterns, even complex ones, on graph paper. Also knitted lace patterns. When I took the time to graph a pattern out from written instructions, I was able to easily knit it, as I felt so familiar with it before picking up the needles.
ReplyDelete