How-To

Review: The Knitter’s Book of Socks

by --Deb 10.11.2011
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This is Clara Parkes we’re talking about here. She’s already established herself as an expert on yarns with her reviews at Knitter’s Review and her two earlier books about yarn and wool. You would expect a book of hers about socks to not simply be a collection of patterns. You would expect more … and you’d get it.

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Review: Custom Knits 2

by --Deb 09.28.2011
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First, the facts: Title: Custom Knits 2: More Top-Down and Improvisational Techniques Author: Wendy Bernard Published by: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2011 Pages: 160 Type: Patterns, this time for the whole family. Chapters: 1. Preplanning the Perfect Sweater: Begin with the End in Mind 2. Basic Training: Simple Alterations and Add-Ons 3. He Said, She [...]

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Review: Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting

by --Deb 06.16.2011
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The latest in the “Teach Yourself Visually” series, which focuses on circular knitting. That is, knitting in the round, where you spiral your way up a tube of fabric–whether it is a sock, a mitten, a hat, a sleeve, or a sweater–rather than knitting separate pieces and sewing them together.

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Review: Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design

by --Deb 03.04.2011

The only thing wrong with this book is that its title sounds like a book that’s going to teach you how to do professional design, and it’s not that at all. It’s a book that teaches a designer how to be professional.

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Review: Knitting Ganseys–now with video!

by --Deb 01.30.2011
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First, the facts: Title: Knitting Ganseys Author: Beth Brown-Reinsel Book: Published by: White River Press, 1993 Pages: 151 DVD: Published by: Knitting Traditions and Essanay Film and Television, 2010 Length: 97 minutes Type: How-to for a classic design. Chapters (book): What Is a Gansey? Getting Started and Casting On Ribbing and Welts The Plain Area, [...]

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Review: Knitting Tips & Tricks

by --Deb 12.19.2010
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This is Lily Chin, a woman whose hobby apparently is to rethink everything about basic knitting. “Knitters do it this way, but what if they did this instead? Is there a better way? Faster? Different? Do we have to do this at all?”

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Review: Wild Color

by --Deb 11.11.2010
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From the Preface: “The revised edition of Wild Color brings the craft of natural dyeing into the 21st century and is the result of over three decades of experience with natural dyes. … Today, when concern for the environment and conservation of the resources of the natural world are of paramount importance, it is vital that we look towards the future and consider their environmental and human impact of our activities.”

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Review: Aran Knitting

by --Deb 09.29.2010
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Seriously–do you really need me to review this? Of COURSE you want this book. It’s one of Alice Starmore’s outright masterpieces, reissued at a price that people can actually afford.

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Review: Entree to Entrelac

by --Deb 09.22.2010
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I’ve always thought of entrelac as one of those knitting techniques that people either love or they hate. It’s not one of the favored children like cables or color work that everybody at least claims to admire, even if they don’t enjoy the actual process. No, entrelac has always been like the ugly duckling of knitting, the technique that is misunderstood or disliked on principle, because nobody’s really gotten to know it.

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Review: Jil Eaton’s Knitting School

by --Deb 08.20.2010
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The author writes in the introduction, “In times past there was always an older generation of very experienced knitters on hand to help the novices. As that is not always the case in our very busy and technologically-saturated world, this Knitting School collection is designed to teach you to knit or to encourage you to return to knitting and to help you refine your skills.”

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Review: Knitting Lace

by --Deb 06.07.2010
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To put it simply, this book is a masterpiece, and that’s not a word I bandy about loosely. Recently reprinted by Schoolhouse Press, this is the story of Susanna Lewis’ classic recreation of a 19th century lace sampler for the Brooklyn Museum.

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Review: Power Cables

by --Deb 05.30.2010
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There is a reason this woman has such a reputation for being an innovative thinker and knitter, and she proves it yet again with this remarkable book.

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Review: Color Knitting the Easy Way

by --Deb 04.26.2010
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Here’s the first thing you need to know about this book–there are lots of books out there that examine color knitting, but this one focuses on color knitting using only ONE color at a time.

That’s right. Not intarsia. Not fair isle. Instead, this book is about adding color to your knitting with stripes and slip stitches.

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Review: Knitting Brioche

by --Deb 04.03.2010
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Darn it, there’s just nothing wrong with this book.

Luckily for you, that means this book is fantastic and one you should run-not-walk to find if this is a technique that you are even remotely interested in. Because, trust me, you’re not going to find a better guide to brioche any time soon.

Still, it’s great books like these that make writing reviews so frustrating.

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