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I nearly swooned when I saw this book and then again when it was placed in my hands for review. Is there a knitter alive who hasn’t seen one of Kaffe Fassett’s numerous designs and not had itchy fingers to cast on RIGHT NOW? The color, the intricate intarsia, the bold patterning – admit it, you want at least one. What stopped me? The commitment, an entire sweater with all those stitches and all that concentration – I couldn’t handle it.

Knitting with the Color Guys has no garments. Yes, I can have the color, the intricate intarsia, and the bold patterning and I don’t have to commit to a giant sweater that may or may not fit me when I’m finished. There are 13 patterns for stoles/scarves. That’s plenty to make me happy during my current obsession with making things that wrap around my neck. Are you ready to make a commitment, just not to sleeves and collars? There are eight different blankets/throws for you to choose from. Color palettes are divided into four different areas: soft tones, singing color, moody hues, and rich shades, but there’s no rule that says you can’t mix and match the colors and the patterns to make something entirely your own.

CK-I

Buy now from Cooperative Press

This book fills a big hole in the knitting world. It takes beginning knitters just past knit and purl and intermediate beginner knitters wanting to take the next step deeper into the world of knitting.

Kate Atherley (who is the technical editor for Knitty.com) has taught knitting for more than 10 years and it shows in every sentence in this book and in every project.

The instruction is just enough; there is a temptation to over-explain to newish knitters about how to do things, which ends up confusing them more. This book hits it right on the head with the amount of information. There is a lot to teach new knitters and Kate tackles it with aplomb. From choosing a pattern to first steps in lace, cables, socks, shaping, working in the round and colorwork, she gives just the right information to encourage knitters and not overwhelm them.
The patterns, too, are the right amount of difficulty and allow a knitter to step up at their own pace. Each section has a mini pattern to try a technique and two or three patterns escalating in complexity to give a knitter confidence to keep knitting.

The photography, particularly the step-by-step photography, is so clear and well framed I never had to hunt for what I was supposed to look at.

A big part of the success of this book is that it is published by Cooperative Press, an independent publisher. A bigger publisher would have pushed for many more patterns and a lot less teaching. For example, a bigger publisher publishing a similar book would want "how to choose yarn" or have gauge explained in a couple paragraphs or maybe a page. Cooperative Press better understood what Kate is trying to teach, using 6 pages for yarn and gauge information, allowing her to teach rather than just explain.

If you are a knitter wanting to move on to new things, you need this book. If you are a knitting shop owner, your beginning knitters will want this. If you teach knitting, reading this book will make you a better teacher.

JM

Buy now from Ysolda

Ysolda has gleefully done it again. Her glee or ours? Both!

Ysolda's glee is evident in every stich of her new designs. A twisted stitch hat showing off the best characteristics of natural indigo-dyed yarn. Mittens featuring a narwhal [!] with lovely extra-long cuffs. The mary-jane slippers we all coveted when she published the baby-sized versions are now big enough for us to wear! The cutest, cleverest, feature-rich robot softie to knit for a baby [or maybe someone older]. And there's lots more. The gleeful delights just keep pouring out of the pages of this lovely, worthy sequel to Ysolda's two other Whimsical Little Knits books.

Our glee? So much to read, knit, enjoy. I loved the photos of the garments modelled on the Ravelry babies. As always with Ysolda's books, it's well designed and easy to read, and the items are photographed clearly and attractively. If you prefer to buy a pattern at a time, she's also offered that option, with the patterns formatted specifically for printing.

AS

Buy now from Amazon

After buying a wool recycling mill in 1983 Annemor Sundbø has nearly single handedly revived the popularity of Norwegian knitting and motifs.

Her latest book, Norwegian Mittens and Glove,s is as wonderful as all of her other books. The love and respect she has for Norwegian knitting permeates every page of this book. It is also filled with her unquenchable curiosity about the history and lore of Norwegian knitting motifs.

This book is half history and technique and half patterns. The basic technique section covering needles, yarn, cuffs, gussets, shaping thumbs and mitten tops and turning mittens into gloves was written by Terri Shea, author of Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition.

The 25 glove and (mostly) mittens patterns for women, men and children are straight forward and almost make me wish winter was starting again.

The patterns are for mittens and gloves are 2, 3, and 4-color, though most are 2 color. There are charts for both left and right hands. The books ends with a chapter on using the motifs found in this book in other knitting as sweater borders, all over repeated motifs or as hats and socks.

Moose and raven motifs are tapping on my knitting brain asking to be used in something and I’m going to knit the Lilies mittens as is because they are simply beautiful.

JM

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Aran sweaters make me swoon.  I’m not just talking about the rugged men typically pictured wearing Aran sweaters, I mean the actual sweaters. When I see a pattern for a beautiful Aran sweater, men or women’s, I fall in instant deep love and imagine myself wearing it. There’s something about the beauty of the intricate cable designs that draws me in. The one actual Aran sweater I owned, a hand-me-down at least 30 years old, was one of my favorite sweaters and so warm and comforting when I wore it. Unfortunately, the best part of an Aran sweater is also the part that makes me hesitate to knit it. The designs are not conducive to mindless knitting; you have to pay attention to what you are doing. 

The designs in this book made me swoon and then swoon again every time I turned the page. Rowan Yarn designer Martin Storey uses traditional Aran stitch patterns in some nontraditional and traditional ways creating really lovely items for men and women.  There are shrugs, cardigans, sweaters, socks, hats, and more.  I was so happy to see several patterns that I felt I could sit right down to knit and have a beautiful item to wear before too long.  There are small items with intricate stitch patterns, like the Berry headband with open cables and bobbles, or Hamish, a men’s cap with a gorgeous 25 stitch medallion cable repeat.  There are cardigans with pretty Aran stitch details to accent the stockinette body like Cora, a boxy sweater that is slightly cropped and has a wide 5-inch border of lattice cable. Then there are the sweaters and vests in traditional his and her patterns which looked beautiful but doable like Inisheer with its elaborate nautical cable rope design used as the center panel of the sweater surrounded by seed stitch. I also loved the gorgeous photographs that show lots of details. All the sweaters have a lot of ease so the sizes listed could easily work for wider range.

KG

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I am unashamedly in love with this children’s picture book.
The story is a magical one where the star isn’t a princess but a knitter bestowing her craft and love of knitting on those around her. A girl who’s world is black and white, middle of winter, finds a box of yarn. The box is full of magic and colorful yarn that never disappears. She spends her days knitting for everyone and everything she meets. Of course, there’s a bump in her road when a greedy and evil man wants the box for his own, but I’m not going to give away the whole story.

The illustrations are wonderfully spare and textural. The colors of the yarn seems to be washed on over the black and white, like the knitting is washed over the girl’s world.

JM

Buy now from Namaste

JM

Buy now directly from Carol

Carol Feller has a modern-yet-classic aesthetic in her design that I like a lot. These patterns are no exception.

All of them were designed to showcase Fyberspates' Scrumptious line of yarns, and they do that very well. Included in the collection are a cowl, hat with matching gloves, lacey shrug and three really pretty, wearable, and very different sweaters.

Feller plays with texture in more than the traditional cabled way you might expect from an Irish designer. Her Bakersville Hoodie uses simple knit and purl stitches to make light bounce off the knitted fabric in a most appealing way.

AS

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This book is a collection of Kim Hargreaves’ greatest sweater hits for men and women from Rowan pattern books reaching back to 1987.

The book is filled with lots of every day type of sweaters and a few for special occasions.  Kim Hargreaves sweater design style has the feel of 50’s and early 60’s fashion and still feels very wearable. She uses a fine gauge and shaping to add drape and a feminine feel. There are 25 patterns, 3 sweaters for men and 1 for fingerless gloves. Some of the yarns are no longer available, but CYCA descriptions are given to make substitutions.

JM

Sharp Interchangeable Knitting Needles
by Hiya Hiya
options:
- small size set has US #2-8 sized tips
- large size set has US #9-15 sized tips
- either set above available with 4 or 5" long tips
- includes 4 cables to make needles that are 16", 24" 32" and 40" long, brocade case, set of rubber needle grips for tightening tips onto cables
$79.90

Before we begin, full disclosure. As per our standard review policy, Jillian tested and reviewed a set of needles provided by the Hiya Hiya company for this purpose. At the same time, coincidentally, Amy [see 3rd paragraph below] found a hole in her needle stash that sent her to her LYS for a solution, where the answer was to buy this same set of needles for herself.

The latest siblings in the Hiya Hiya needle family are the sharps. They're pointier needles that lots of knitters use for lace, but we like for almost all of our knitting. Like all of the other Hiya Hiya interchangables, these are super smooth all the way to the cord. You twist the needle tips on and tighten them with a small rubber pad [two are included in each set]. Says Jillian, "With each new set of Hiya interchangeables I get to review the cord swivel seems to be better, looser, but not so loose that it catches yarn."

Not only are the needles imprinted with the size of the tip [something not all needle companies do, but should], but the cables are even marked, so you know what length needle you'll be making when you choose any specific cable. No more picking blindly, hoping it will be the right length. Amy especially loves this.

These Sharp needles are pointy but not splitty. Jillian has been using a US #3 with superwash merino, knitting a variety of stitches with no splitting. Amy found that no other needle she had in her collection was slippery enough to work with the laceweight camel/silk lace shawl she's currently knitting on US #4s. She was pleased to see these needles at her LYS, and discover that, though they are slippery, they're not so slick that stitches fall off. And the join is the best she's encountered...with double-stranded laceweight, there's almost no fussing to get the work past the join. One last significant bonus: Amy is yet to find a set of interchangeables that don't need periodic tightening to keep the tips attached to the cords. Until now. These Sharps, when tightened very securely with the provided rubber grip, have not budged at all and are as secure now, after countless rows of often-tight lace knitting, as when she started. She is very impressed. After fighting every other circular in her stash with this specific project, these Sharp needles have earned favorite needle set status.

Jillian's used these Sharps on stockinette and cables, and finds they work as well as other needles, but with lace stitches they are fantastic. The extra pointiness gives her just a little less needle to slip under stitches to manipulate them. They make her lace knitting faster.

Another well thought out, well designed and reasonably priced product from Hiya Hiya.

JM + AS

Buy now from Amazon

Not at all. If you know Rachael-from-the-blog, this book will give you a deeper insight into who she is. If you don't know her, you'll want to.

If personal stories captivate you, these are some of the best I've read. If there's a way to bear your soul to a reader without overdoing it, Herron has done that. Sharing without oversharing, inspiring without preaching, breaking your heart honestly. Herron's writing is welcoming and truthful.

I love this book.

AS

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Beth Moriarty from Planet Purl has put together a book that is an homage to the south; its food, culture, and natural beauty.  Each chapter focuses on a different state in the south including its history, tourist destinations and natural wonders.  Each state has knitting patterns inspired by the state and sometimes recipes.   I had recently been thinking about taking a trip to the south and I got a lot of really good ideas of places to go and things to see. 

The patterns are for women, men, babies and home accessories.  The patterns for women include cardigans; tops and accessories with shout outs to famous fictional characters like Scarlett O’Hara and Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood. They range from ultra-feminine southern lady gear like the Magnolia Wristlets, knit with kid mohair with ruffle trim (to keep your wrists warm in frigid indoor spaces) to simple contemporary designs like the Lighthouse Tunic inspired by the Tybee Island Lighthouse in Georgia, a body skimming sleeveless top knit in cotton that looks as great with capris as over a bathing suit.  I was especially taken by the Wrought Iron Gate Pillows that resemble stained glass and were inspired by the scrollwork on iron gates in Charleston, SC. 

Then there are the mouth-watering recipes, which include many southern favorites like red velvet cake, mint juleps, pecan divinity, peach cobbler and more. A bonus is the detailed sizing information for every garment and for novice knitters, PlanetPurl.com’s exhaustive online resource of how-to videos for nearly every technique used to make the patterns.

KG

Buy now from Amazon

As it turned out, just by listening, I became a believer. Moïse’s story of friendships that appear just when she needed them most struck a very deep chord with me and I was hooked by this lovely little book almost from the first page. She tells of her own healing through building friendships, practicing Reiki, and learning to knit and weaves the stories of other people’s healing throughout. The anecdotes can be read piecemeal or devoured in one big clump – either way I was left with an appreciation of my own knitting/fiber friends as well as comforted by the thought that there are other groups out there that support each other in the same way.

CK-I

This is one of the easiest and effective pill removers I’ve ever used.

I love knitting with barely twisted and super soft yarns, but they pill like crazy. I’ve tried eclectic shaver type of  de-pillers and straight up pumice stone –type of  de-pillers. Both of those tend to leave my knitwear flat and looking over scraped. I’ve worried that  de-pilling with some products starts to compromise the integrity of my yarn.

The Gleener is light and shaped like a big two sided lady-razor. One side holds the de-fuzzer blade the other a super strong lint brush.

There are three different densities of blades that feel like a strip of pumice – two are good for wool and wool blends, the last is for silk, silk blends and synthetics.

I used it on my Colonnade shawl [see photo at left] that I wear nearly every day fall through winter. It’s knit from barely twisted merino, so it’s wicked pilly.

I used the Gleener and it whipped the pills right off. I was surprised how much muscle I could put into it and it still seemed the Gleener was just scraping the pills not the yarn.

After using any kind of de-piller I hate the part when you’ve got to pick, shake or use tape to get the  scraped off nubbies off of your knitwear. This is another spot where the Gleener is brilliant. Use the lint brush on the other side to pick up all of the nubbies and freshen your knitting.

This is a great tool to have in your knitting kit. It removes pills in a fairly gentle way and the lint brush is a smart accompaniment.

Buy now from Amazon

JM

Buy now from Amazon

A Handknit Romance is an inspirational knitting book with designs inspired by women’s fashion from the 1900’s – 1930’s. There are jackets, skirts, camisoles, stockings, day gloves, sachets, jewelry, lots of lace and beaded knitting it’s a dream of frothy girly goodness.

Jennie Atkinson shows her vintage inspirations in drawings, photographs and vintage ads. She also stay fairly true to the original patterns in execution, some beaded patterns have more than 2,000 beads and many pattern are knit at a gauge of 9 to 10 stitches to the inch, but that attention and willingness to original detail is what gets the feeling right for this book.

My particular favorites are the Cotton Camisole and the Sailor-collar Blouse.

The book has nice, but short, introduction on embellishing and adapting vintage styles to your own style.

JM

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Jean Moss uses the term Shawlette very loosely – there are shawls, ponchos, infinity scarves, even necklaces.  There is a huge variety of items to keep the top half of your body warm and stylish with out having to knit sleeves.

If there are a big variety of items the variety of styles is even bigger. The designs in this book are divided into four sections Country, Couture, Folk and Vintage.

 There are traditional patterns and wild shapings, lots of lace, more colorwork than most North American designers use, even knitted animal print.
I love that there is a project index at the back of the book to help quickly locate a patterns that you want to knit.

This is a fun and unusual book full of quick-ish to knit patterns that would be great gifts.

JM

Buy now from Amazon

But Judy wasn't content to leave it there. Sure, a pretty, seamless toe-up cast on is a great thing, but what else can it do? This book shows us: lots! And it reminds us what JMCO really is: an invisible cast-on, period.

This book is packed full of patterns for hats, scarves, wraps, sweaters, bags and even -- yes! -- socks. Featuring designs by Sivia Harding, Cat Bordhi, Jeny Staiman, Janel Laidman, Samantha Roshak, JC Briar, Stephen Houghton and many more, the patterns are practical and fun, easy to wear and interesting to knit. Take a peek at Lorilee Beltman's fun Bobsled mittens, for example! I'm thinking about using JMCO for mirrored shawl designs you'd normally graft at the end, thanks to this book.

The book also shows us some new variations and elaborations on the JMCO technique, tips to make it easier to perform for those who haven't yet mastered it, and much more. Clear photos and layout, big charts and an attention to detail make this book a must-read!

AS

Buy now from Amazon

A book full of colorful, fun and reasonably easy sock patterns for feet that belong to babies, children, women and men.

There are sizing instructions for many of the patterns, so you can adapt a women's pattern to fit a child. Both top-down and toe-up designs are included, and the designs feature texture, lace or colorwork. The text is extra large for easy reading, and the charts are very clear. At the back of the book, you'll find illustrations of the key techniques used in the patterns.

AS

Color Grid

This is an interesting tool! The laminated, 4-fold card [think of it like a big brochure, except this is one you'll want to read] helps you choose colors for just about anything: knitting, spinning, dyeing, quilting, even wrapping presents! Based on the traditional color wheel, this is a new and easy way to look at color.

Detach the first panel and the 9 cut out circles and open rectangular bar are the key to the system. Inside the remaining 3 panels are squares of color specifically arranged. Put the main color of your project in the largest circle, and the relatives of that color are visible around it. In the horizontal bar, you'll find the "spark" - the color range that makes your base color come alive.

It's a handy way to apply color theory without having to remember what complementary, analagous and other multisyllabic terms mean.

AS

Buy now from Amazon

I have two words for you: pompom blanket. Don't tell me you don't want to make that for the next adorable baby that crawls in your path.

There is also a blanket with bobbles [bobbles, which I normally abhor, make total sense on a blanket for a baby! Think of the tactile fun! Though I'd probably only put them on one side of the blanket.]

And finallly, the blanket with the fuzzy sheep all over it. Fuzzy sheep. I can't stand the cuteness.

The rest of the collection is pretty and functional, but these three patterns make the book standout for me.

AS

Buy now from Amazon

Not the usual sort of book that gets me excited, but this book -- on mending, of all things -- is an inspiration. Because our handknits can wear out in spots, plus the rest of any wardrobe eventually benefits from a little careful attention, agreed?

This book is full of absolutely brilliant ideas. Patches, sure. Tidy seams, okay. But what about a perfect little cross-stitch rose over a hole? Adding pockets where there were none before [including pockets hidden in seams!]. And the dreaded "how to add a zipper" is covered here, too.

So much good, interesting information -- with awesome photographs to illustrate the techniques -- is included in this small hardback volume, I can't even begin to list all the contents. This book will help you fix things that were broken, and reinvent things that are too boring to exist in their current form but too good to give away.

You want this for your library, I promise. It's going directly into mine.

AS

Buy now from Amazon

This is a small book, full of [as the title suggests] tips of all sorts for knitters. Things you wish you knew when you started, and maybe things you don't yet know even though you've been knitting for years, shared from knitters all over the world -- some quite famous!

Some of the instructional sections are handy, but as the index is frustratingly vague, looking up something when you need to find it isn't a quick matter. For example, in the "A Good Stitch" section, instructions for casting on extra stitches at the end of a row is followed by the p2tog decrease, which is followed by the M1 increase.

I think of this as a book I might give to a new knitter to get him or her familiar with our language and techiques and intrigued to learn more. A better index with more organized subsections would make this more useful to knitters of all levels of experience.

AS

Buy now from Amazon

JM

Buy now from Hadakishop

Looking for a knitting bag that can hold just a little more? Going away for a knitting weekend or do you have a huge project to carry? This gorgeous little duffle may be what you are looking for.

I recently used mine as a knitting bag/carry-on for a plane trip and it held a lot for its size. I stuffed in my laptop, ipad and camera, plus all of my electrical cords. On the knitting side, it held 2 sweater sleeves, 2 shawls and two knitting books, plus all of the knitting do-dads I need. All of that I there was still room to put my light fleece jacket in too. Although it has one main compartment there are 6 pockets inside and 3 pockets outside of the bag to keep things organized. The outside pocket flaps close with strong magnets...strong enough to hold a pence piece in place from when Amy tested this bag months ago on her trip to the UK.

When I put it in the overhead it looked tiny, smaller than some coats that were stuffed up there. When I put it under the middle seat in front of me, I could still fit my regular sized Tom Bihn Swift next to it.

It comes in a variety of fantastic prints (I may have done a small excited wiggling dance when I saw this print) and the plastic material is durable and wipes clean of any spills. The only disappointing thing I found about this bag is that, when the piping is treated very roughly (pulled across metal, when pulling it out from under a seat), as a travel bag is likely to have happen, the orange color wore off leaving white showing from underneath.

JM

Buy now from Loop

I love the Brown-Eyed Susan cover shawl, the twisted-stitch Oak Knot hat, and I think I need to make myself a Swoon -- a very airy-but-boxy layering sweater. Would love to see that sweater and a few others shown a ltitle more clearly [a few of the book pics are a bit too dark to see enough detail], but most are well lit and shown in a variety of angles and poses.

I love the paper the book is printed on. It's linen-textured and durable enough to stand up to the knitting-bag abuse it's likely to suffer on my account.

AS

Buy now from Amazon

JM