Customer Reviews

Harmony Guides: Lace & Eyelets (The Harmony Guides)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I compared this new version of the Harmony Guides thoroughly with the older Harmony Guides, and ended up going with the older versions. The new guide does have fantastic pictures, but that's about the only improvement I see over the older versions. There are less patterns per book, and there are still no charts (which would have easily fit on the very large, mostly blank space, pages). If you absolutely must have clear pictures, then definitely get the updated Harmony Guides. However, if like me, you are willing to sacrifice some picture quality to get a larger number of patterns for inspiration, then go for the older versions.

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.

I eagerly anticipated getting this book (and its two companions) since my old Harmony guides were falling apart. And my DH gifted me with them for Christmas.

What a MAJOR disappointment!!! No charts??? There are several pages of graph paper at the back, but what is one supposed to do, tear them out? This is unacceptable. The pictures are lovely, but there is no organization by type of lace--overall, edging, insertions, etc. The lace panel pattern on page 256 is misspelled as "Gardinia." Picky, picky, I know, but I have to wonder what other proofing errors are in there if one that obvious got by the spell checker.

Don't waste your money on this--get a copy of one of the original Harmony guides. Or buy Barbara Walker's First and Second Treasuries, if you don't already have them.

Please, please do not waste your money on this book. I should have listened to these other reviews and did not. The book is horrible, I could spend more time detailing the problems with it than I did looking at it getting more and more aggravated as I turned each page.

First of all, who writes a lace book with how to cast on instructions? In an attempt to pick out more unusual patterns they went for all the ugly ones, not that I can tell, many of the photos are such close ups that the look of the knit fabric is lost. With all that white space (there is a ton of it) could they not have used two pictures. And I am not even to the worst part yet. Want to yarn over? Well you will have to read through instructions that say yf, yb, yfon, yfrn, yo, yon, yrn with a glossary hidden in the back after graph paper? Please, who sketches pattern ideas in a book?

There are instructions to wrap the yarn (why with seven different yarn over instructions do I now need to wrap yarn too?! Then there's knit and purl "twisted" as opposed to "KB1" which means knit into back of next stitch, as opposed to tbl. The last straw was when they told me to "draw sl st over". All this work for ugly or common stitch patterns. I am going to try to get my money back. I have never ever returned a knitting book in my life.

Oh, I forgot the ridiculous knitting platitudes sprinkled though out the book as 'tips'. It is hard to pick just one they are all so dumb but here you go a knitting tip: When you make a mistake, correct it by ripping back stitch by stitch". Gee thanks. The tip on page 29 combined two unrelated items so they make no sense all - editing I think not. Erika Knight should be thoroughly embarrassed.

The main advantage of this book over the Barbara Walker Treasuries is the fact that it has color photos. However, it is disappointing in comparison in all other respects (and to be honest, I think even some of the photos could have been a little better.) Many of the 250 stitches are, in fact, traditional stitches which are also featured in the Barbara Walker books. Charts would have given this book an edge over other stitch dictionaries, but, alas, all instructions are written. I recommend investing in the Barbara Walker books instead, and checking out the Barbara Walker Treasury project if you want color photos.

I was very disappointed with the "new" Harmony Guide: Lace and Eyelets. There are no charts. The instructions have not been updated from the old Harmony Guides from the '80s. Explanation of abbreviations was inadequate and there were no disclaimers regarding the use of British knitting terms, most specifically for the use of the various abbreviations for yarn overs. While the photography is pretty, the designs have been knitted in heavier weight yarns, many of which are singles, which distort the view of using the designs to knit "lace" with fine yarn -- it's more like for adding lace designs to outerwear cardigans. Often the image of the lace pattern chosen for the book seems to have been chosen more for its artistic pleasure than showing the complete pattern of lace stitches. Not recommended for new knitters. If you want a stitch dictionary, see Barbara Walker's treasuries: A Treasury of Knitting Patterns

i really love this book because i prefer written patterns to charts. the preference of the intended recipient should certainly be considered. pictures are detail of pattern/panel, not whole or finished pieces. detail is good for checking your own work.

have noticed that peacock plumes has been printed twice, making 249 stitches to knit, and have written the publisher/author.

I love Erika Knight so I hate to write a bad review, but these books, as pretty as they are, only cover the same basics the Vogue stitch books do. The Vogue books actually cover more.

But the worst thing was the very upclose pictures of the stitches. The stitches themselves are simple enough (again, just the basic variations), but it's hard to get an idea of the overall effect of the stitches. Nice upclose, but what would it look like spread across the bottom of a sweater? You'll have to spend hours knitting up every stitch option to find out.

Although these books don't have schematics, that's not important. Neither do the Vogue books nor Nicky Epstein's "Over the Edge" and they work great. Some poeple just want to relax and knit where it says to knit, purl where it says to purl. Not everyone is obsessed with translating hyroglyphics for every single pattern in the known universe. Unrealistic expectation, so don't let that deter you.

There are so many errors @ first glace - about 75, that does not include errors I have found. All the Harmony Guide: Lace & Eyelets, Knit & Purl, Cables have numerous errors. You have to request from Interweave to get a list of the erratas.

This is one of my favorite lacework guides because it doesn't bother with charts. I prefer written instructions and accompanying photos are full color and very beautiful. Much easier for a beginner to lacework to deal with than those awful chart-based guides.