Customer Reviews

25 Gorgeous Sweaters for the Brand-New Knitter: Sophisticated Sweaters For Novice Knitters

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I get asked a lot for book recommendations for beginning knitters who want to make SWEATERS and not scarves, potholders and simpler projects. Nothing is more exciting in knitting than making a successful, wearable fashion piece. So this book is very very welcome.

The best part of this book is the instructions for yarn substitutions. Many commercial patterns use yarns that are not available in every part of the world, or may be a bit expensive. Learning how to substitute yarn successfully expands your knitting options and allows you to make a special knitted masterpiece all your own (and maybe at a budget price, too.)

I can't recommend this book enough to people who want to extend their knitting skills. It's really great.

Despite being a more experienced knitter, I just had to have this book....! Catherine Ham's patterns are truly gorgeous; through the use of simple shapes, she encourages knitters to be really creative with some of the beautiful yarns that are now on the market. Along with the advice on yarn substitution, I really enjoyed the sections on embellishments and the suggestions of variations for some of the designs. Whether you are a beginning or more experienced knitter (and especially if you have some interesting yarns in your stash "just in case"-- you know who you are), I HIGHLY recommend that you get this book; it could provide the inspiration for a beautiful and truly unique garment....

This is the perfect book for someone who has just learned to knit. The directions are clearly written, the schematics detailed and the photographs lovely and uncluttered. Catherine Ham also includes how to substitute yarns if one is unable to purchase the yarns used for the models. She also shows variations and embellishments. This is one of the best books for beginning knitters because it has fashion flare and the sweaters don't look like the typical beginners' projects. I highly recommend this and will be using it when I teach knitting.

The instructions were difficult for me as a "brand new" knitter. I took a beginner's class (total of 6 hours), and my mom is an experienced knitter who has taught me a few things over the years, but I had to consult my knitting teacher and my mom from time to time when I was stumped as to what the instructions meant. One example: "Reverse all shapings" with no clue as to how this is done. My knitting instructor agreed that this book is definitely not for a true beginner; however, she did think the Sally Melville books were excellent (The Knit Stitch and The Purl Stitch).

The sweaters are beautiful and I look forward to knitting many of them, but I will be sure to have my mom and knitting teacher available to explain how to do some of the instructions for the forseeable future.

I don't mind the more expensive yarns, as I think you may as well use great yarn if you're putting all that time into a project. Also, it makes a huge difference to knit with really nice yarn--the yarn really makes the sweater.

So, five stars for the sweaters, but unless I'm really dense compared with other "brand new" knitters, I have to drop my rating down to 3 stars due to the struggles I'm having in understanding the instructions.

then this book is for you. If you know the basics, but hate to follow someone else's pattern, Cathy's ideas and techniques for knitting a range of designs for all ages and figures will free you to create your own wonderful sweaters. It's sort of like looking behind the curtain in Oz- now I know what to do to make my sweaters much, much better. I know Cathy, and I've seen her amazing work, but this is like having her right next door. Buy this book. Buy some wonderful yarn (come on, you DO need more. . .) and get busy, Christmas is just around the corner.

This book delivers exactly what the title promises. The designs are totally simple and the directions are well written. There are plenty of pictures of knitted samples.

What I appreciate about this book is the choices of yarn for the beginning knitter...interesting and easy to work with producing garments that look much more accomplished than the usual beginning projects.

Even though I am a more advanced knitter, I find myself reaching for this book for simple design ideas.

This is an excellent book for begining knitters! The patterns are extremely readable, and easy to follow. The stitches used should be within the range of most beginning knitters. The only downside is that many of the yarns recommended are pricey or hard to find. I couldn't find one of the yarns so I had to use two different yarns (knitting them both at once) to achieve gauge, at a cost of $110! For a beginning knitter, whose stitching may not yet be where it will be later, making this type of investment may not be worth it. However, I was an advanced beginner and pretty confident of my needlework, so it was fine for me (and the jacket *was* stunning!). The patterns are absolutely top notch, and the author provides many, many options for embellishing and customizing to achieve a truly one-of-a-kind treasure!

I am a "Brand-New Knitter". The sweaters in this book are more than beautiful. I would like to make several of them. The majority of the instructions seem simple enough. However, when reading the pattern to see if I understood what was being instructed, I ran into an instruction that made absoutely no sense to the "Brand-New Knitter" on the second sweater.

Here are the instructions for the left front:
Left front: Cast on 31 (33,39,42)sts and knit
until peice measures same as back to start of shoulder shaping.

Work left shoulder shaping as for back. (I guess I could figure this out once I started knitting)

Continue working the remaining 15 (15,16,18) sts for collar for a further 3(3 1/2, 3 1/2, 4) inches.
BO.

But, if you are a "Brand-New Knitter" see if you understand this:

Right front: Work same as left front, reversing all
shaping.
Place markers on back for under arm.

What does this mean??? The sad part is, is that every pattern in the book with a right and left front is written like this. Maybe the problem is in understanding the left shoulder shaping. If this part of the instructions were clear I would rate this book a 5 star because she repeats the same technique/instructions over and over.

This book is one of the best book I have. Altho printed several years ago, it contains many versitile patterns. All my knitting buddies want one!!

I taught myself to knit many years ago and have recently returned to knitting as a hobby. This book has many great styles and excellent suggestions for the novice knitter. You will probably also need a good basic instruction guide for things like binding off, slip stitching, etc., but after having made the usual scarves and baby blankets this book is recommended for the next step. Happy Knitting.