Customer Reviews

Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

This was a great stitch reference guide. I personally am not too keen on cable stitches (stitches using double point needles) and the middle of this book was pretty heavy on that. I've seen other stitch reference books that described what yarn weight worked best/examples of what you could use that stitch for--this book had none of that.
However, for someone looking to pick up a few more stitch ideas, this is invaluable.

I'm trying to teach myself knitting, and I am trying lots of stitch patterns as I go. I was thrilled at first to see how many patterns this book had, but after a while, it frustrated me. There is absolutely no context to the patterns---no comments, no advice, even very little division into sections. The patterns also seem to use notations and terms that are not the same as most I see. I saw this book was translated from Italian, and I wonder if something was lost in translation. It also seems physically cheaply made, as if the pages might fall out at any times. But it does have about the most stitch patterns of any book I've seen, if you can understand them!

for the price. This is simply a wonderful resource for the knitter who is looking for great texture- just page through, and pick one! Other stitch dictionaries go for twice as much or more, and have a lot less information.

This is a wonderful book with a large variety of stitches to choose from. The pictures are large and in color. The patterns are described via charting or words to satisfied both types of pattern readers.
The stitches run the course of Basic, Classic, Crossover, Creative, Lace, Textured, and Multicolored stitches. In addition there are MANY Slip Stitch Patterns and Jacquard Patterns also in large color clear photos.
I feel this book is a must have in any knitter's library and that it will be used frequently as a reference book over and over.
Happy Knitting!!!

This is a great book for us devoted knit-wits. It requires that you have an intermediate skill level. It's not how-to-knit guide. You need to understand the basics before it will be useful to you. In combination with a very old book I own, I have a huge selections of patterns to accent various knitted pieces. I found the perfect pattern for an upcoming project. I'm really pleased with the purchase.

I have a great collection of books; some are by designers, others compilations from knitting magazines or their editors. This book is a basic for every knitter's library. Since there are many books available, you need to know what makes this book special. It shows you the stitch; graphs it for you, but also writes out the verbiage for the stitch, which is what most knitters are used to.

I was reluctant to purchase this book, due to the bad reviews. However, it is exactly what I was looking for - a book with a large number of knitting stitch patterns. This book has more than 550 stitches. It includes a color photo sample, the written pattern and a chart for each stitch. It is a stitch dictionary, nothing more, nothing less. I've worked swatches of several of the patterns and haven't come across any errors. I suggest to the people who are having difficulties "deciphering" the patterns to start with some of the patterns in the the beginning of the book, to get a feel of the "language" of the book, which seems pretty much standard to me.