Knitting Books [Archive]

Antigone

01-25-2004, 05:49 PM

OK I'm leaping off of the Knitting Goddess thread to make one with book reviews. Please chime in!

I am in *love* with Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick (someone else mentioned it too) - I have it out of the library and plan to buy it. I just bought cotton yarn to make the bath puppets!

Knitting for Dummies has some good basic info and some good advanced info. It's a decent overall book.

Stitch N Bitch by Debbie Stollar is the first knitting book I bought. I learned to purl from it, I learned the long-tail cast-on from it, and I just finished the kitty hat (except for the actual kitty ears - and the pattern is available online for free if you don't want the book). I highly recommend it - it's fun and helpful and has great patterns.

The Knit Stitch and the Purl Stitch by Sally Melville (the first 2 books published in the "Knitting Experience " series) are favorites of friends of mine. I'm not as excited about them, but they have PHOTOGRAPHS of techniques, which I did find a lot more helpful than drawings in some cases. And some good basic patterns. These are also good first books to learn from, I think.

Knitting Pretty by Kris Percival was OK. It's another of the new generation of "hip" books, has the requisite cell phone cozy and such, and I thought it was fine but Stitch N Bitch was better. But you might like it.

I've been just checking out book upon book from the library. Please list your favorites and your thoughts - even if (especially if) they differ from mine!

Julie

01-25-2004, 07:04 PM

I adore Stitch and Bitch, but that is the only book I've gotten so far.

To the library I go...

josh

01-25-2004, 07:12 PM

Marla, dear. I was scanning through the new stuff and seriously thought this said "Knitting Boobs."

You could write that. Something about breast cozies, perhaps.

Julie

01-25-2004, 07:16 PM

I have a pattern for a wee willie warmer.

not the same, but heh.

josh

01-25-2004, 07:20 PM

Hrm. I know some boys who could use one of those. Could be a million-dollar idea...

Julie

01-25-2004, 07:32 PM

do you ever get on AIM? :P

Antigone

01-25-2004, 08:38 PM

Stitch and Bitch does have a pattern for a bikini... And I've seen a knit uterus.

OK *puts on MOD HAT* back to books!

MandarynLemon

01-25-2004, 09:01 PM

A knit uterus? WHERE? I have to make that for a friend of mine some day. She'd love it!

PotatoFace

01-25-2004, 11:11 PM

i have one called "Vintage Knits". I adore this book. It is modern patterns taken from old vogue knit patterns. Simply beautiful patterns that are easy to make.

I have been knitting for twenty years(mum taught me when I was four) and it takes alot for me to get intersted in a pattern, and this book just did it.

Antigone

01-28-2004, 11:18 AM

A knit uterus? WHERE? I have to make that for a friend of mine some day. She'd love it!

Argh, I can't find it again! It was bizarre, with a doll's head attached to the 'cervix'.

MandarynLemon

01-28-2004, 11:25 AM

Antigone

02-10-2004, 05:27 PM

Everyone should check out Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti - if only for the chapters on yarn and gauge and on the pattern for the "Dumb Baby Sweater" - her title not mine!

I also must highly recommend Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I learned from her (and Righetti) that there's no "wrong" way to knit and that it's OK to make mistakes. Most of the newer knitting books reference these two books, they're great places to start! I don't think they're the best to learn to knit - although they both teach that - but they're great to learn HOW to knit. ;)

PotatoFace

02-12-2004, 06:52 PM

i knitted a few things from this one. really lovely knits

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0743224566/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-5846625-2747300#reader-page

Antigone

02-12-2004, 07:08 PM

That would be Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas with Yesterknits. It does have some great looking patterns for sure.

(*puts on mod hat* please, when posting about a book here, tell the title and author, even if you also provide a link. That will make it easier for everyone. Thanks! :) )

PotatoFace

02-12-2004, 08:19 PM

sorry, im having problems with my posts not coming up right. im loosing posts too.

i had the title in there

SLK

02-25-2004, 12:40 PM

PotatoFace

02-25-2004, 05:17 PM

-edited by mod-

Please do not publicly offer to copy copyrighted materials. If such offers are to be made, take it to private messages. Thanks.

SLK

02-26-2004, 12:29 PM

Argh, I can't find it again! It was bizarre, with a doll's head attached to the 'cervix'.

I've found it (I think)

http://web.archive.org/web/20010809171206/http://www.mother-care.ab.ca/uterus.htm

Antigone

02-26-2004, 12:33 PM

That's IT!!! I saw another one with a picture, but that's one of the patterns. Thanks super sleuth!!! ;)

woo.

MandarynLemon

02-26-2004, 12:38 PM

Cool. :D Thanks.

SLK

03-02-2004, 04:51 PM

I just got this book thorough the post today :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1855859661/qid=1078264058/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_11_9/202-3705635-2643061

It's called blankets and throws to knit by Debbie Abrahams and I can't wait to get started

afghanknitter

03-11-2004, 09:52 AM

Hi all,

I found a new afghan book out there, called Gorgeous Knitted Afghans : 33 Great Designs for Creative Knitters.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1579903533/104-3727229-6831903?v=glance&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1579903533/104-3727229-6831903?v=glance&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books)

Julie

04-18-2004, 07:15 PM

Knitting Basics by Betty Barnden-- GORGEOUS full color pictures that just make sense. Totally made DPN knitting make sense to me. Not terribly basic, as it had a pretty decent stitch library in the back, great finishing techniques-- all sorts of stuff. Nice patterns too.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764155466/qid=1082330085/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/002-7582085-9340820?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Caroline

07-14-2004, 09:45 AM

Puts on wishlist (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0761135901/qid=1089737373/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-8713625-8907208?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

;X ;X ;X

~Caroline~

Julie

07-14-2004, 09:51 AM

my lovely friend Natalie (found at http://knitting.xaviermusketeer.com) got me "The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques" and a sock book whose name I forget at the moment, but it's like "Around the World in Socks" and it has SO MANY cute socks. Out of the patterns, there's only ONE I don't like. There are like 20!

*socksocksock*

Antigone

10-24-2004, 09:56 PM

The next Stitch N Bitch book - Stitch N Bitch Nation - is out in a few weeks! All patterns - I'm really excited.

RobotRollCall

11-11-2004, 08:00 PM

I got the Stitch-N-Bitch Nation out of the library today (first in line - woo!) and there are some crazy patterns in there! They have a cabled newsboy cap that looks adorable.

Caroline

11-11-2004, 10:35 PM

Awwww I want SNB Nation now! I went to the bookstore yesterday: not there yet. I think it should be there next week though (I have enough WIPs as it is right now, it's a good thing that I don't have it yet).

I bought Knit Wit a little while ago. It's cute, but you can get most patterns for free on Knitty.

~Caroline~

lemonlette

11-30-2004, 11:51 PM

I'm a big fan of the Cat Bordhi book 'Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles' - I did my first (and only) pair of socks this way and loved it.

I also liked Melanie Falick's 'Weekend Knitting' for the inspiration factor, and the cute egg-sweaters.

I'm a total knitting-book whore though...especially the sock books.

Ohhh, and for felting - the Pursenalities book is really super neat.

Have I mentioned I'm a knitting book whore?

When I think of other favorites, I'll post again. Ahh, the joys of ADD.

Antigone

12-02-2004, 09:00 AM

For my birthday I got:

Stitch N Bitch Nation - Way cute patterns, and some very bad ones IMHO ;) I want to make lots of things from this.
Last-Minute Knitted Gifts - I am in love with a few of the scarves in here, and she has some lovely ideas about color/texture. And I'm absolutely making some of the drawstring bags. But I don't think anybody needs a tea cozy out of CASHMERE.
World of Knitted Toys - Ahhh the cuteness. I want to make one of everything - although seaming pieces together scares me still (I prefer things all-in-one-piece). I may go for the dolphin first.

whirlygirl

03-05-2005, 11:04 PM

Antigone, have you made some stuff out of Last Minute Knitted Gifts? I was thinking of getting that, and wondering how difficult the patterns are.

Antigone

03-06-2005, 08:38 AM

The only thing I've made so far is the Men's Cashmere Scarf - and the pattern in the book is 100% wrong, the pattern "correction" (the full pattern) is online. So you could get it for free. And it's mistake rib so it's incredibly easy.

I have plans to make the airy scarf and the little drawstring bag and some other things. Nothing looks terribly difficult.

I scored 2 knitting books for about $1.50 at a thrift store last week - a Debbie Bliss knitting book of kids' clothes and another kids' clothes book. Kind of advanced (lots of intarsia and fair aisle), but so cheap! :)

whirlygirl

05-01-2005, 10:38 PM

I bought Last Minute Knitted Gifts tonight.....I was drooling over some of the stuff in there, even though there are mistakes. I'm not sure when I'll be ready to make some of that, but I had a 30% off coupon from Borders :D

Caroline

05-02-2005, 10:16 PM

I got the Vogue Ultimate book of knitting last week. Love it, love it, love it! ;n

I also got The Yarn Harlot's book (Meditations for women who knit too much). Very cute and funny.

~Caroline~

Julie

05-24-2005, 04:01 PM

I have Vogue Ultimate-- it's great!

Caroline

05-28-2005, 09:33 PM

I bought Socks Socks Socks (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0964639157/qid=1117329578/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-0311472-1307235?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) yesterday.

LOVE IT! If you're a sock knitter (and if you aren't you should be ;n), it's a great book to have. Some patterns are butt ugly, but others are really really nice. I'm currently making feather & fan socks and I'm loving it. Size one needles are tiny though :p

~Caroline~

kniticous

07-12-2005, 09:55 PM

This is the best book I've bought in a while:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1931499144.01._PIdp-schmooS,TopRight,7,-26_PE32_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1931499144/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6404361-4992934#readerpage)

I love vests and there are some gorgeous patterns in here. The stories of the pattern/color origins are pretty interesting, too. Most of these look "doable" (and the fact that there are NO SLEEVES is not a bad thing), but some of them involve steeking, which I've never done...the thought of taking a pair of scissors to something I've knit is pretty scary. It'll be a long spell, probably several, at the LYS to get that down.

Has anyone made anything from this book?

Lady Gwendolyn

07-17-2005, 02:08 PM

'the knitting goddes' is cool....

amanda

11-30-2005, 10:23 PM

Hee. Maybe someday one of us will stumble across it. It's not high on my priority list, since it's not exactly useful, but I'd love to see her face when I gave her a nice knit uterus that I made. [post21]

Look on knitty dot com - go to archives - whimsies and then click on "womb"
I stumbled across it a couple weeks ago.
Good luck! (i would include the link but i haven't posted enough yet to include links!)

amanda

01-09-2006, 10:11 AM

There are a couple books I have that I like: Pursenalities, Felted Knits, Gorgeous Knitted Afghans, and The Knitted Rug.

Julie

04-06-2006, 02:20 PM

I am in LOVE with Mason Dixon Knitting. It's got some really innovative, creative stuff. I am definitely making lace curtains for my bathroom!

Caroline

04-08-2006, 01:00 PM

I've read about it but haven't seen it in the stores here yet. I can't wait to see it.

~Caroline~

venus in force

04-22-2006, 01:39 PM

knitty.com (http://www.knitty.com) is one of my favourite online knitting pattern resources... I have a whacking three knitting books...! Both the SnB books and something called Pub Knitting (http://www.colourway.co.uk/books/pubk/pubk.htm) which has some fun, EASY patterns. Some of them are dreadful but some are really cute, and they're all, without fail, easy as hell.

vollhardt

05-31-2006, 07:16 PM

A great beginner's book is Hip To Knit by Judith L. Swartz; it has some very basic shapes and things to make (scarves, hats, mitts, sweaters, and cardigans) which are fun to alter as one gets more advanced. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good book to move onto from this one?--I haven't had the time to practice my knitting, so I'm still in the "knitting roughly rectangular things" stage :-).

vollhardt

06-08-2006, 04:12 PM

Just got Stitch N' Bitch and the Reader's Digest something of Needlework.

Antigone

06-18-2006, 10:25 AM

I was just given Alterknits as a gift. Cool patterns - I'm really excited about the crown knit out of crepe paper (maybe today I'll buy some to try it out).

I also bought Stitch and Bitch crochet but still can't seem to get the hang of it... Still, great patterns and very clear instructions.

Antigone

10-12-2006, 04:27 PM

Because I have a lot of single skeins and not a lot of patience, I took the book Oneskein by Leigh Radford out of the library. It's OK - disappointingly (for me, the one-skein queen) some projects take MANY skeins - but one of each. ;) OK so that's not too awful. There's a really cute felted tote, and knitted cupcakes, and a cute bib, and a few other fun things. Worth flipping through - but I probably will continue to take it out of the library if I want to actually knit something from it.

Rizzabella

11-04-2007, 09:49 PM

I am in LOVE with Mason Dixon Knitting. It's got some really innovative, creative stuff. I am definitely making lace curtains for my bathroom!

How would you rate the difficulty of projects or, more importantly, how long each project takes?

I know your post is old so you might not see this but I'm curious about Mason-Dixon knitting. I'm really tired of buying craft books with projects that look nice but lack more patience than I have. I need quickie projects or I burn out.

Also, Antigone, could we maybe open up knitting books to craft books in general? I know we don't get a ton of traffic but I still want to try and compare notes on other craft books. :f

Antigone

11-05-2007, 09:39 AM

I'm always happy when people start new threads! Go for it!

I have a few craft books (related to fiber at least tangentially) that I'd be happy to talk about in there.

Rizzabella

11-05-2007, 02:16 PM

The reason I suggest that, is that I do look in this thread specifically for knitting info. It's really the only craft I'm interested, and seems to be the main one/most popular.

Understood. I don't want to clog up one thread by making it too diverse.

When I get home tonight I'll post a little craft review thread with the books I have.