What you make of it...

A review copy of Debbie Bliss's latest, The Knitter's Book of Knowledge, arrived at just about when I needed a refresher on how to make buttonholes. How lucky was that?

I was finishing a Barbara Cowl for my friend Barbara, and as often happens when I'm in the middle of a pattern (or recipe), I realized I wanted to change something. The thing about this pattern is that you knit it as a scarf on straight needles, then sew it together. Since no provisional cast-on is required, you're left with a long rectangle that has a short seam, rather than an invisibly grafted-together loop. Had I realized this before I began knitting, rather than plunging right in, as is my s.o.p., I would have done the whole thing differently...but so it went, and there you have it. I needed to finesse the issue of a visible and clunky seam.

The fix was, I decided, to put in some buttonholes near the end, and sew on some matching buttons. That's where this lovely Debbie Bliss book enters the scenario. The book offers four really good methods of buttonholing (plus helpful ancillary information about reinforcing them, etc.), and I followed the instructions for one of them, and it all turned out very well.

Now Barbara can choose to wear her Barbara Cowl as a cowl or a scarf (hurray for versatility!), and she will be none the wiser as to the snafu I encountered.

Often when I receive books to review for this blog, I peruse them, but don't use them--that is, I never take the time to knit up one of the many patterns contained therein (most are pattern books), but merely ascertain from reading them whether or not I could in good conscience recommend them to you, gentle knitters. Those I can't recommend I simply don't review, as I don't feel it's an effective use of my time to write the hard truth about a problematic tome. But those I do recommend, I'm happy to extol, because they have appeal, utility, and durability. The Knitter's Book of Knowledge by knitting guru Debbie Bliss is one of these.

It's not just that I used it, and can verify the clarity of instructions, illustrations, and layout. It's also that it's a great reference work.

Reprinted with permission from The Knitter’s Book of Knowledge © 2015 by Debbie Bliss, Lark Crafts, an imprint of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. Photography by Kim Lightbody. Illustration by Cathy Brear.

And while it's pitched to a wide audience--knitting lessons are contained within (see above), as well as more advanced instructions--that's also part of its beauty. A decades-experienced knitter like moi consulted it and found interesting tips on how to make a better buttonhole and inset pockets (file for future reference). A neophyte will appreciate the sections on yarn suitability, color theory, trouble-shooting, etc., and especially enjoy the way in which processes like casting on and binding off (to mention only two of many) are broken into comprehensible steps. And there's also the fact that it's attractively designed and laid out.

So, in my considered opinion, this is a book worth owning. Or giving. I'm sure you know a knitter who'd enjoy this as a holiday gift.

Hey, what's the Big Idea?

"Books do furnish a room."

                               --Anthony Powell

So maybe you’d like some new knitting books for the holidays, or maybe you’d like to give one to a dearly beloved knitter?  Here are three that recently crossed my desk.  They’re all clever and meritorious, and  I shall rank them in order of technical difficulty.

The easiest, technically, is The Knit Parade, by Rebecca Rymsza (Collins & Brown, 2013). This book’s Big Idea is that you can individualize a generic unisex sweater (crewneck, long sleeves) with graphic intarsia images. Stars, keys, telephone receivers, hearts pierced by lightning, leopard spots—you’ve always dreamed of a sweater decorated with these kinds of motifs, right? Each motif ties in with a pop song—that aspect is way past my realm of consciousness, but perhaps you know a teen-at-heart who’s plugged into this current, and you’re looking to knit her/him something transiently cool and tragically hip. At any rate, the patterns are clean and simple, and offer an encouraging introduction to basic intarsia. Who knew intarsia could be this funky?

Then we have Classic Elite’s Shawls, Wraps & Scarves:  20 Ideas, 3 Ways (Sixth & Spring, 2012). The Big Idea here is, as the title says, multiple garments from a single stitch pattern. Maybe this doesn’t seem earthshaking, but each of the twenty prototype patterns is distinctive, and each is worked up in different yarns to different lengths and different proportions. It’s actually quite magical to see how a master pattern can yield differing results as the variables of yarn, needles, etc. change. The photography is really good, the garments beautiful. This book is my pick of the three, if you want to go with only one. It provides the most bang for the buck, if you think of its contents as really sixty patterns rather than twenty, and in terms of these patterns’ shelf life. They’re classic, elite, and will never go out of style. 

The most interesting of the three is Irish Schreier’s Reversible Knits (Lark, 2013). The Big Idea here is training a knitter to become adept at knitting garments that have no wrong side. It’s an excellent technical primer; there’s a lot of good information about stitch/fabric composition (including a small swatch lexicon that offers painless trialing of the techniques), and about fixing mistakes; and there’s an array of designs, ranked in difficulty from Beginner to Experienced, that combines beauty and technical expansion at every level. This is a book for a dedicated and curious knitter…in fact, I’m probably going to start on one of its patterns very soon!

So there you have it—three very different knitting book possibilities; together they’re fairly representative of what the annual crop of knitting books yields. Attractively designed, interesting to read, gimmicky to varying degrees, and offering solid technical advice, they’re good gifts for any knitter, including you.