Product Description

From casting on and understanding patterns to creating intricate stitches and edgings, here you will find all the knitting know-how you'll ever need. This comprehensive guide to yarns and patterns fully explains over 85 stitches, with 250 step-by-step illustrations for basic and advanced techniques.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #393971 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Ideal gift & reference book for beginner to experienced knitter alike
I last knitted some 15 years ago and stupidly enough forgot how to cast on easily, increase and decrease stitches etc! I hunted for a book showing the stitch photographically rather than by illustration for the more complex instructions as I wanted to involve my teenage daughter from scratch.

The Knitter's Handbook is very appealingly presented, with clear instructions and grouped by pattern type. Like a really good cookbook, you have an illustration and the pattern neatly presented together so that you can really see what you are aiming for. Confusion is eliminated, both for my daughter and 89 year old mother alike! And I? Into my third project - fairisle!

I encountered a new, keen beginner and spontaneously gave her my precious book - she is delighted and I look forward to giving away many more copies and ordering another one for myself!

A perfect gift / reference book, some ideas suitable for a 5 year old to undertake as well as the experience knitter in search of an uplift.

A great book for patterns but not the best for beginners
The Knitter's Handbook is a beautiful book with dozens of great color photos that give you tons of ideas of different things to knit. Most of the explanations and techniques are fairly well explained, however, if you've never knitted before or are getting ready for your fist pattern (like me), this book might be a little hard to follow.

I found that some of the basic explanations for knitting, purling or fixing mistakes seemed a little too quick. To me, it always felt like one diagram and explanation was left out. I'm sure to a more experienced knitter, the explanations would be sufficient, but for a newbie, they seemed a bit vague. Saying that, there's still a lot of useful information and instruction in the book. I am glad I bought it, though I'm still looking for a simple book filled with lots of detailed photos that go step by step, not just beginning and end photos. Incidentally, the photos in this book are only of the patterns. The instructions use drawings, not photos.

Excellent for knitting novices
I have been knitting compulsively since forever, but in the last few years I haven't picked up the needles and I had totally forgotten a lot of special stitches and techniques.
I picked this up in a bookstore and knew it was "The One Book" straight away. For me, the stitch gallery is worth 5 stars in itself!
It is ideal for beginners as it has everything you would possibly need to know about hand knitting. And it is hardbacked so it will easily sit open when you are working on a pattern.
And for that price, buy one for your mate as well and start knitting together in the coffeeshop over a cup of coffee and a chat! :)