Pattern Books

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: Vampire Knits

by --Deb 09.13.2010
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I’ll admit that I don’t quite understand the obsession with vampires. I was a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it was on, but the only vampire book I’ve read is Robin McKinley’s Sunshine. So, when I saw this book, I was a little skeptical. I’m not really the target audience, you know? But…

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Review: Knitting it Old School

by --Deb 09.08.2010
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The flap says, “Love ‘old’ but want to be ‘in vogue?’ Welcome to Knitting It Old School where you’ll find patterns for knitting and crocheting everything from cheeky hot pants to his-and-hers sweater sets, all drawn from the fashion trends of the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s.”

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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: Gifted

by --Deb 08.12.2010
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This is one of those charming little books full of charming little projects, meant to be given as gifts.

What? You want more of a review than that?

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Review: Tweed

by --Deb 08.01.2010
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Not a brand new book, but not really old enough to count as a “classic,” this is nevertheless a new one for my collection. I’ve had my eye on it since it was published but kept putting it off and putting it off, always telling myself that there were other books I could or should buy first. …And yet, I kept coming back to this.

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Review: Comfort Knitting and Crochet Afghans

by --Deb 07.29.2010
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This book is a collection of over 50 patterns–a mix of crochet and knitting–for afghans. Some are made in one, big piece. Some are made up of squares or triangles or other geometric shapes. Some make great use of color work, some have cables or other texture. In other words, there’s lots of variety.

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Review: New England Knits

by --Deb 07.19.2010
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It’s no secret that I love New England. My grandmother was born in Maine and grew up on Martha’s Vineyard. My dog is named for Chappaquiddick, and whenever I think “vacation,” I immediately start thinking about travelling northeast along the coast. When I was in elementary school, I was actually disappointed to learn that New Jersey counted as a “Middle State” rather than a part of New England–the southern tip of Connecticut is barely 50 miles from here, it seemed almost criminal that we missed counting as New England by such a small amount.

So, it shouldn’t surprise you that I love this book.

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Review: The Art of Knitted Lace

by --Deb 07.11.2010
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This book is filled with some really lovely lace designs by some very talented designers like Annie Modesitt, Lisa Lloyd, Berta Karapetyan, Melissa Matthay, Phoenix Bess and more. The thing you need to know, though, is that they’re not all new designs.

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Review: Knitting MochiMochi

by --Deb 06.22.2010
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I have to be honest. This book made me smile. Chuckle. Giggle, even.

It’s just fun.

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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: Think Outside the Sox

by --Deb 05.22.2010
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What happens when a well-known knitting magazine has a contest for creative sock patterns?

Well, in this case, you get 296 entries to be pared down by judges Cat Bordhi, Lucy Neatby, and Sandi Rosner. Then, after awarding prizes, you put the 61 best into a book and send it out into the world.

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Review: Northern Knits

by --Deb 04.29.2010
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I know there are strong knitting traditions all over the world, all with their distinct trends and cultural inputs, but when I think about knitted sweaters, I admit that I think of northern Europe before any other region. Fair Isle. The Aran and Shetland islands. Scandinavia. Those are the places I look to first for inspiration and ideas.

Apparently I’m not the only one, because Lucinda Guy’s new book does the exact same thing.

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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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