Book Review: Knitting For Dummies

Welcome Back 

In today’s post I will be reviewing; 

Knitting For Dummies

• Title: Knitting for Dummies
• Author: Pam Allen, Tracy L. Barr, Shannon Okey
• Publisher: Wiley Publishing, Inc
• ISBN: 978-0-470-28747-7

My Reason for Buying

My wonderful mother taught me basic knitting; Cast on and off, increase and decrease, stocking stitch and pearl, but sadly she died when I was still young and it wasn’t until recently that I have been interested in giving knitting another go. I have a neighbour who has been wonderful, helping me when I get stuck but I thought it was about time that I got a book to help me through the basics and tell me what to do when I mess up. This book covered a lot and looked ideal.  I tell you all this, as often a review is based on how well the book lived up to the expectations of its reader, for their purpose  

Contents

• Part 1; Getting Ready to Knit.Three chapters on what you need to start knitting
• Part 2; Knitting Primer. Six chapters covering the basic stitches and what to do if it goes wrong
• Part 3; Techniques for the More Experienced Knitter. Four chapters of more complex stitches to take you further
• Part 4; Making Garments; Five chapters on the ins and outs of sweaters and some project patterns to try them out.
• Part 5; The Part of Tens; one chapter on easing aches and pains then another with ten knitting projects and gift ideas.
• Part 6; Appendixes; One section including more stitches and effects, and one with a host of links to knitting resources. 

Pros/Cons

Pros 

• Gets you started if you haven’t knitted before
• Teaches you lots of different stitch patterns
• Guides to the different needles, and yarns available and charts for comparing needles.
• Plenty of patterns to try out the techniques you learn along the way
• How to sort things out when it all goes a bit wrong

Cons 

These are really just niggles, nothing to put you off buying, just niggles. 

• A spiral bound or hard backed version of this book would have been nice. It would make it easier to keep the book open as you learn a technique.
• The only images of the finished projects from the books patterns, are at the centre of the book. The picture links to the chapter where you can find the pattern, but it would have been nice to have a reference image or where to find its image, next to the pattern. See page ‘X’ for example. The finished project images are full colour, which is nice.
• Terminology differences. This book is American, so the terms used are American. For example in the UK a stitch known as Stocking stitch is refered to as Stockinette. If you are using vintage or UK patterns and are totally new to knitting this could cause some confusion. BUT if you buy patterns from Etsy and USA companies then you should be fine. Those with even minimal knitting experience will recognize the knitting stitch shown by its image diagram. So it’s not as major a problem as it first sounds.

Value for Money

Excellent! This book covers the core skills needed to start knitting, then takes you further for the more advanced knitter. A valuable resource for knitters of all abilities. 

Would I buy it Again?

Totally! 

Summing up

This book has been excellent and I wouldn’t be without it. Don’t be put off by the occasional differences in terms, if you are buying well-known brands of patterns or patterns from Etsy, it is likely that the book will use the terms you will find in those anyway. You will recognise the stitch patters from the illustrations if not the names. Buy this book for handy reference, but If you are a visual learner, do check out You Tube tutorials as they will help back up what you are trying to learn. If you have even the  tiniest experience of knitting this book will really help you progress. 

Links

Knitting for Dummies; on Amazon I’ve been reviewing the second edition, published 2008 

My fave knitting tutor on You Tube; Knitting Tips by Judy 

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon 

Billie

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