Customer Reviews

Hand-Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I obtained this book after I had been machine-knitting for about 2-3 years, and have found it an inexhaustible treasure-trove of techniques, tips and patterns. I refer to it over and over. It's worth 10x its price. Whether you are a brand-new machine-knitter, or a seasoned one, this book will never collect dust on your shelf----you might even find yourself needing to buy a new one!

This book is absolutely great! It explaines different techniques with easy to follow instructions accompanied by photographs. This book is "hands on" and has helped me many a times to conquer some of the techniques that I would have otherwise never had the courage to use. Even on techniques I already (thought I) knew it gave me useful hints and tips and an insight into how to do it easier and better. Do you know the feeling when "the penny drops"? This is what is was like following the instructions of this book. It is the most used MK book in my library.

Susan Guagliumi came to our machine knitting guild to demonstrate and teach and was amazing. What was most useful about her talk was the techniques, her "bridging" ideas and new ways of looking at and treating stitches that you already knew about but might not have used often because they were difficult to manipulate. Even something as simple as cabling was treated in new and exciting ways with Susan's techniques. I had always considered hand manipulation a chore and something to be avoided until after her class, demonstration and the usefulness of her book. With that help, I was able to convert several complicated hand-knitted patterns with popcorn and open-work to an easy and wonderful machine knit pattern. My sincere thanks to Susan Guagliumi for thinking of machine knitting in a completely different way.

I am a new machine knitter and was amazed at the possibilities. Machine knitting has apparently taken a downturn with many manufacturers discontinuing products as needle knitting is gaining recent popularity. If only people saw this book first,they would never want to try to use needles! I can't wait to try many of the techniques illustrated in this book!

Wow! I never realized that there are SO MANY stitches I can create with my knitting machine. Susan's instructions are thorough and the many illustrations help to visualize what the stitches will look like in your garment(s).

Definitely a buy!!

This is one of the better machine knitting books out there. Like most on the subject it is very dated, and tough to read, but you will be able to use all the patterns and techniques on newer machines. I use it with a Silver Reed 150 and its a great resource.

A wonderful resource just PACKED with tips, designs, beautiful pictures and easy to follow charts and instructions.

This book is a must have for every machine knitters library! It is current and easy to read! This past fall (Oct '09), I had the opportunity to take some classes from Susan and this book contains several of the techniques that were presented in the class. I am a beginning machine knitter so some of the techniques are still beyond me but this is a great book for beginner through advanced machine knitters! I use the book in conjunction with the video as a beginner but my mother-in-law uses just the book and also loves it (she has been machine knitting for about 18 years and does absolultely beautiful work!) If you get a chance to take a class from Susan, please do! She is a great instructor and you will learn some really cool tricks and fabulous edges that are much nicer than the plain old boring ribbed edges. Thanks Susan!

Never dreamed you could make an art piece on your knitting machine? This book shows you some wonderful stitches that hand-knitters just aren't going to do. They're gorgeous; they're not always easy, but then, nothing great is lightly won. I've had this book since it came out, and I treasure it.

This book was first released in the 80's when knitting machines became quite popular in the US. For those who don't use a knitting machine, it's a long bed (or two, face-to-face) of individual latched needles that each hold a stitch in a row. A carriage travels across the stitches like a typewriter carriage and yarn is pushed over the needles to make a new loop. It's somewhat related to rake knitting where individual stitches are on pegs.

Unless you have a ribber for your machine, your knitting faces in one direction, the purl side (wrong side) facing you. To do fancy stitches like ribbing, you have to unlatch the stitches and sort of crochet them back up again, or transfer stitches with a tool to re-arrange them to make cables. The machine can only do color changes (fair isle), tuck or slip stitch automatically.

So what if you want cables, or other all-over textured fabric? Susan Guagliumi shows you how to do twisted stitches, woven stitches, popcorn, cables, gathers, bobbles. You can actually create knitted fabric (no shaping of garment) and cut it to make sewn knits if you want. You can make lace without a special lace carriage.

The book also goes over the parts of the knitting machine and how the carriage and needles interact to create the stitches. The beginning of the book covers the basic moves you will do with the yarn and machine to manipulate stitches by hand. Linkers, garter bars are also covered.

What is simple for a hand knitter (garter stitch, cables and ribbing) is not so easy for a knitting machine. With this book, you can branch out from simple flat knitting or all-over tuck or slip stitches that are built in to your machine, or use a simple machine with no special stitches such as many of the bulky machines that handle worsted-weight yarn. If you want to make beautiful scarves, sweaters and other garments or even household items like slipcovers for ottomans and pillows, this book is a real treasure.