Product Description

Heirlooms are a family's link from its past to the present and a legacy for the future. They are special things that have personal meaning. Knitting at its best can produce lovely articles that are used today and will readily become heirlooms. The lace knitting of the Shetland Isles has created much treasured family knitwear. This book is for both the everyday and expert knitter, presenting the craft in an understandable form. It is intended as an instructive guide, and in addition to an overview of Shetalnd lace, there are helpful explanations of technique and useful information on design, including how to develop your own patterns; there are practical tips too. To finish, there is a comprehensive project section detailing typical shawls, stoles, baby jackets, rounding off with a masterpiece - an intricately patterned christening robe. Above all though, this book has a wide-ranging collection of charted patterns - classified for convenience into centres, borders and edgings - that are carefully graded to suit the learner as well as the most experienced knitter interested in creating original yet traditional knitted lace.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #228941 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

The only book you'll ever need
This is the definitive book on Shetland knitted lace. Any enthusiastic knitter will refer to it constantly for its comprehensive lace patterns. There are also complete projects.

Be warned - the patterns are presented as charts, rather than written. Do not be put off by this, they are straightforward to follow, but older knitters may not be used to charted patterns.

This is a pricey book, but well worth it. There is also a great website associated with this book www.heirloom-knitting.co.uk

A reference book on heirloom knitting!
It's such a wonderful (big) book on heirloom knitting!! The lace designs for centres, borders and edges are numerous and are all excellent. The information concerning alternative methods for knitting shetland shawls, stoles and scarves is great. The projects included are beautiful(!). This book is really exceptional...

Probably aimed at experts
I teach knitting and work as an editor. There is no doubt that the author is the prime exponent presently in the shetland knitting field. Sharon Miller has worked very hard on this project but she would have been well served by better editorial support from the publisher. The charts are good but the step-by-step photos could be supplemented by clearer ones in a revised edition. The mistakes which have crept in are corrected on the author's website.

The projects are beautiful and have lost none of their traditional qualities in her interpretations. The price reflects the technical nature of the subject matter and the immense amount of work that has gone into it, so I feel I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in shetland knitting.