51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty pictures--poor translations, February 28, 2007
This review is from: Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns (Paperback)
This stitch dictionary needs subtitles. It is a translation of an Italian knitting stitch pattern book titled "I Punta Della Maglia". Sterling Publishing, a New York Publisher, edited this English version. Something got lost in the translation.
As lovely as the selection of stitches may be, some of the instructions are incomprehensible, even though instructions come in both written and chart form. The first two stitches I tried proved impossible to decipher. I thought it was me. Being tenacious, I wrote out the stitch instructions for myself and drew the charts over, trying to identify what it was I just wasn't grasping in the instructions on the printed page. Numerous samples later, I still had no luck in duplicating the patterns sucessfully. Nonetheless determined to enjoy this book, I tried a simple cable stitch. Then I decided to write this review!
Rather than adapting instructions to conform to typical English-language formats common in Vogue and similar books, the New York publisher seems to have adhered to an Italian standard. For instance, instructions and charts for many of the cable stitch patterns in the book are written for a single cable, not for a cable with some background. If you wish to knit a rectangular swatch, you need to add stitches to form the background yourself. Otherwise you get exactly one, twisted, snaking cable with no stitches on either side. To correct this problem in complex patterns, you may want to modify the written instructions to reflect these additional stitches. For instance, "Row 11: Knit." might need to be become: "Row 11: Purl 2, Knit 7, Purl 2." Imagine rewriting (or recharting) every cable pattern in the book!
Similarly, one of the "classic" patterns gives instructions for rows 1 to 5, and then says: Repeat rows 3 to 6. No information for what row 6 was supposed to be appear anywhere in the instructions. So, I looked to see if Sterling Publishing had a website where it publishes updates or corrections to it books. It doesn't, at least not that I can find.
Bearing in mind my obvious frustration, here are the knitters I think will be happy with this book:
a) Expert knitters who don't need instructions, or
b) Knitters who like guessing what the full instructions might be, or
c) Knitters who have a knitting circle or kindly shop owner who will take up the challenge and spend hours of trial and error knitting until they stumble upon something that looks similar to the photograph, or
d) someone who owns lots of stitch dictionaries and is willing to search through them to see if they can find the same pattern with correct instructions in another book.
If you are none of the above, I would pass on this book.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stitches Galore!, October 17, 2005
This review is from: Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns (Paperback)
As a knitter who is just starting to branch out from prewritten patterns, I wanted to find a collection of different stitches so that I could personalize my knits. This book has so many different stitch patterns that it is hard to choose just one. There are a lot of cable patterns, but there are also lacey patterns and basic, everyday stitches like seed and moss, so there seems to be a little something for everyone. It's a great companion for any knitter who wants to create their own designs.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic book for knitters of all skill levels, August 18, 2006
This review is from: Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns (Paperback)
I just got this book and I just love it! It has actually inspired me to try cables! If you think you would like to try some new stitches, then this book is for you. It has basic, classic, crossover (or cables), creative (wrapping, bobbles, edging), lace, textured, slipstitch, jacquard and multicolored stitches. I love that they use all different colors of yarn for the swatches. They are beautiful! This book has lots of stiches to jazz up your ho-hum knit project. Happy knitting!
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