Stitch Patterns
I've been anticipating this one since it came up on my Amazon recommended list. My local Barnes & Noble had a copy so I took a look at it this weekend.
I was quite underwhelmed. It's another of those Rowan/Jaeger books with limited sizing. The designs were -- "eh". I expected more creativity than I saw in the book. Honestly, there is not a single design in the book I'd want to knit.
The book had one noteworthy positive thing in my opinion though. It has the best illustration of the tubular cast on I've seen. Now, it's probably not worth buying a whole book just for that, but I felt I should share it since I'm being rather critical on the book as a whole.
This is my kind of book! When I first heard of the book I thought "How many edges can I possibly be interested in?"
But the title is something of a misnomer. It's full of decorative stitch patterns that can be used in a variety of ways. There are ribs, ruffles, lace, picots, fringes and cables. If you like the Stitch-a-Day or 500 Knitting Stitches type books you will LOVE this one.
I can see using some of the ribs around the waistline of a sweater to make it shapely. Many of the cables would be beautiful in any part of a garment -- not just the edge. Some of the stitch patterns would be lovely along a shawl or scarf -- making a gift really special.
The photographs are clear and the samples are large enough to really be able to see what's going on.
If I had one complaint it would be that there are no charts. I can see myself charting the more intricate patterns if I planned on using it in a design. I'm a visual learner -- charts help me learn and memorize a stitch pattern.
I'm guessing I'm not the only one who really likes this book. Amazon has had it for 3 months now and is still selling it at full retail price.
Jodi,
I read somewhere that Nicky Epstein has a book she did sometime before this one with ALOT of the same information and WITH graphs. Might be worth checking it out.