Customer Reviews

Fishermen's Sweaters: 20 Exclusive Knitwear Designs for All Generations

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I can't praise this wonderful book enough. Every adult sweater in this collection is a treasure!

Starmore's marvelous book focuses on single-color, richly textured sweaters (though there are also two very striking Scandinavian-style pullovers which would serve as an excellent introduction to multicolor knitting.) There are complex Aran-style cabled sweaters as well as knit-and-purl brocades which involve little or no cabling. These brocade patterns (Lochinver, Filey, Norfolk, and Cape Cod, to name my own favorites) are some of the loveliest and most elegant sweaters ever to emerge from Starmore's workshop--and best of all, they are much simpler to knit than they appear!

Traditional construction is the hallmark of this collection. It is Starmore's ode to the Scottish fisher gansey, the art form of her homeland. Therefore, most of the designs call for DK, sport, or 5-ply gansey yarn, and fairly small needles. Finishing one of these fine-gauge sweaters will require a little extra patience and stamina, but the end result will be a hard-wearing, versatile, impeccably crafted garment.

It's a toss-up as to which is Starmore's best work: this book or the magnificent "Aran Knitting". This book has more original designs, however, and much greater variety among them.

This is a book that just makes you itch to knit. I had not knit a sweater in the round until I started working with this book, and I unerstand now why traditional knitters would never have done things any other way.

I have rarely seen such beautiful swater patterns or such beacutiful photographs. If you like to knit, be patient and learn from this book and you will be immensely rewarded.

I am new to Aran kniting. The detailed, close up pictures of the sweaters show very clearly how the stitches should appear. The charts are easy to follow, and Starmore's general directions in the back of the book are a bonus. Sweaters are featured in light to heavy yarns. The fibers range from cotton, silk, wool or a combination. My sample knitted swatches have been sucessful.

Alice Starmore is a knit designer who is reknown for her colorwork (Fairisle type--she hails from Lerwick, Scotland) and for her textured Aran and Guernsey-style work. Here she creates some glorious textured sweaters in chapters named after lands where fisherfolk live, work and yes, knit their characteristic designs. The chapters include:

1. Scotland
2. England
3. Ireland (including the Aran Isles)
4. Points North, South and East (including Breton, Norway and the Baltic lands and the Faroes)
5. The New World (hey, that's US!! Nova Scotia, Cape Cod, and more.)

The sweaters range from the thickly cabled true Aran style (the gorgeous Innishmore is incredibly deep and intricate) to colorwork such as a combination of textures and pattern characteristic of Estonian knitting. There is also an adorable child's sweater modeled after a Breton sailor's striped jersey.

This is one of Starmore's most useful books. The sweaters could be worn by men, children, fashionable women, hikers, you name it. If you love TEXTURE, you will adore this, but there is also color. In addition to the designs I just mentioned, I love the charming "Nova Scotia" featuring scallop shells in a knit-purl design.

This is one of my favorite Starmore books.

Alice Starmore is the authority when it comes to Aran knitting and this book demonstrates that. The pictures are gorgeous and the directions for the projects are well done. So, get inspired and make one of these! I have just started an Alice Starmore project and all I can say is that I am thoroughly enjoying it and find rather addicting. Her directions and charts are very clear and easy to follow. Her designs are truly works of art!

If it's written by a Starmore, you can't go wrong. This book is full of absolutely gorgeous sweaters that will inspire even the novice knitter. I bought this book 10 years ago and it motivated me to learn to knit to a much more advanced level. It's a shame that Alice Starmore's books are out of print for the most part, as it deprives those new to knitting of some of the most beautiful books and patterns ever created (unless you can afford the ridiculous price for used).

If you love the look of cables, textures and Aran Sweaters, you will love Alice Starmore for putting together this book. This book is a treasure.

After I read the reviews (all of them five stars) and after I saw that another book of Alice Starmore is out of print and you can get it for $200 I was really looking forward to getting this book! Well... I appreciate all the work the author put into producing those 20 sweaters. Yes, the instructions are very detailed. And the charts are very clear. But out of 20 models featured in the book only one caught my eye as being truly original and worth making.
Photographs of the models are very pretty - beautiful landscapes, lovely sailboats... But if you take a picture of a knitted dark blue sweater, don't put it in front of a dark boat - or fix the lighting, so the reader will be able to appreciate the knitted pattern.
The book did not live up to my expectations - so three stars it is.

This book goes from fairly simple to very challenging. There is something for every level of confident knitter. I love that there are patterns for men, women and children. This book is excellent for those that have been wanting to try a pattern that looks complicated, but is rather very straightforward. I am anxious to try knitting a sweater in the round instead of knitting in pieces and having to sew them together. I highly recommend this book

...well, this man did anyway. i had wanted a fisherman's style jumper / gansey for a long time and since I could never afford one I decided to make one. Not having knitted anything before I figured it couldn't be that hard (ignorance being bliss) so I got a copy of this book and decided to try making the Stornoway men's jumper. LIke almost all the designs in the book it's knitted in the round and has lots of bits that sounded tricky: under-arm gussets, shoulder straps, complex patterning including cables. I was a little worried about it being rated as a three-star project (experience required) but I ploughed ahead regardless. The result ? Well, it took me about two years but eventually I was the proud owner of my very own Scottish fisherman's jumper :) Subsequently I've made the Lochinver jumper for my partner (which looks wonderful on her), modifying the sleeves a little to make them less patterned.

Without doubt, what made it possible for a complete knitting no-nothing like me to do this was the wonderfully clear, detailed patterns in the book. Really, if I can follow them, anyone can. I also found the additional information at the back of the book about jumper construction and techniques such as grafting and different cast-ons extremely helpful.

It's a very good collection of designs, most of which look lovely. I have to admit that a couple of them are not to my taste and with several others I think the jumper would be more attractive if the patterning was simplified a little. But that's just my preference.

I wouldn't part with my copy of this book at any price and I'll definitely be knitting more of the jumpers.