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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ok but the Originals are still better., December 18, 2007
This review is from: Harmony Guides: Knit & Purl (The Harmony Guides) (Paperback)
I have the original Harmony guides and when I found they were going out of print, stocked up. I take the more narrow books to Kinkos and have them put a spiral binding so that they lay flat and are easier to use (spring for laminating the front and back cover to make them more durable as well).
When I saw that the new guides were out, I bought all three. However, I have to admit to being disappointed. They are very bland in colors -- some of the pictures don't look significantly better than straight black and white photos of Barbara Walker fame. While the size and format is more "portable", the photographs are not a significant upgrade from the original versions.
I think Harmony was trying to come out with an updated set of dictionaries to be more competitive to the Vogue guides. While on the surface, these may look more competitive, the Vogue guides are superior in terms of production value and selection of stitches.
You are better off looking for the original harmony guides which are significantly cheaper and investing in the Vogue guides if you want the pretty pictures.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very disappointing, October 16, 2008
This review is from: Harmony Guides: Knit & Purl (The Harmony Guides) (Paperback)
Skip this stitch dictionary and get one or all of the Barbara Walker Treasuries.
While this book provides some interesting stitch patterns, it doesn't stack up to other stitch dictionaries. There seems to be no organization to the various stitches, and there's no index to the book. Though there is half a page in the introduction devoted to how to read the charts, and though some of the stitch patterns tell how to interpret special symbols in the charts, the book has no charts. The color pictures are clear, but they're often too close up to give readers a good idea of how the stitch patterns would look in a garment. All the stitch patterns are worked in the same yarn, which is an understandable editorial decision, but, I think, the wrong one. Lastly, there's no descriptive text.
I give it two stars only because there are some attractive stitches I haven't seen in other stitch dictionaries before, but this book isn't nearly as good as it could have been or ought to have been.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Original Harmony Guides are better, May 15, 2008
This review is from: Harmony Guides: Knit & Purl (The Harmony Guides) (Paperback)
While I like the organization of the new Harmony guides based on type of stitches, the original guides have a lot more examples.
In this guide all the slip stitch patterns have been eliminated along with color variations of many of the stitches. What a shame - as I found the variations and the slip stitches really inspire me when I am thinking about modifying an existing pattern or creating my own. Also no charts when there was plenty of room to make them. The only charts are the charts that are found in the original guides.
I love stitch dictionaries and have many in my library. When I looked at this I decided that the original harmony guides are a better deal and I recommend buying those guides used when asked.
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