Customer Reviews

The Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First, my copy doesn't look anything like the photo here. It has a wonderful covered spiral that is very appropriate for use while you're actually knitting. I've been carying this one around with me ever since I got it. Since I've forgotten what my GM and Aunties tried to teach me when I was little, and I just recently picked up this obsession again, I consider myself to be self-taught, or book-taught. I just never learned advanced techniques, and I really need the pictures to show me what to do. There are no classes available in my little out of the way town. The lovely little church-lady expert that helps me out, well, I just don't want to bug her at 1 AM! In no time, I was doing more professional looking garments, and making items that my family will actually wear in public. They're "custom made and designed" now, not just home-made.
The book includes Cast-ons and Bind offs as well as all kinds of increases, decreases, seams, picking up stitches, borders and bands. It even has about 8 different kinds of buttonholes. Then there's the techniques that I had never heard of before: I-cord, and knitted shoulder pads, and a very unbiased discussion on the different uses of flat knitting versus circular knitting. And finally, the worksheets help get you on the right path to keeping track of what you plan on doing. An index is the only thing missing from this book.

If you have a closet full of bags with knitted pieces and you are stumped as to the steps to get to a SWEATER, this book can help.

I have a simple pamphlet about knitting finishing which has been my standby for years. But this book is much nicer, as it has a lot of color illustrations that really show how the finish should look. The photography and choice of yarn colors lets you see clearly how to pick up stitches for a band, how the sewing should look, how to insert a zipper. The spiral binding is hand for laying down flat as you work a finish as a swatch or for real on your sweater. The book is small enough to fit in a normal tote bag, but not so small as to be hard to read.

If someone is a knitter in your family, this would make a good gift--even though I've been knitting for years, this is a very handy thing to pop into the knitting bag and carry along. I really like it.

The way a garment is finished is often what distinguishes a professional-looking product from one that looks "hand made" in the bad sense of the term. You can find information on finishing techniques in most knitting references, but you have to wade through lots of other material to find it. This book focuses only on finishing and provides multiple options for many of the basic aspects of construction--from casting on to binding off and beyond. The illustrations are clear and the author let you know the pluses and minuses of each technique. Much of this information may seem basic to expert knitters, but it's knowledge that many knitters acquire through trial and error (with the emphasis on error). It's nice to have the options listed in one place, even if the pros & cons lists get repetitive. I wish that Wiseman had included some material on blocking as well, but that information is available elsewhere. Even so, this is a nice little book, small enough to be carried around with your projects, but big enough to be easily read.

I am a very experienced knitter, and for a while I gifted this book to family and friends who were learning to knit or working to improve their skills. However, as I have recently started to incorporate this volume as a resource to further my knitting studies, I have recently determined that certain illustrations for two fundamental skills profiled are not correct. The K2tog illustration is not correct. Same goes for a increase skill known as a Lifted Increase, for the mirror technique that is performed on the left public side of a garment. This is a huge disappointment, and I will no longer recommend this book to others who are at beginner to intermediate skill levels. Only those with sufficient experience can disregard these errors. Instead, check out from your library the now out-of-print edition of PRINCIPLES OF KNITTING, by June Hemmons Hiatt, or purchase the Montse Stanley KNITTER'S HANDBOOK, now published by Reader's Digest, for more accurate and clear teaching along with correct illustrations.

I use this book every time I knit. Well, maybe not every time I pick up my knitting, but I refer to it at least once, and usually multiple times, for every piece I make. I think I use it more than any other book I have. Some books are too big or have too much information. Others are too brief or only show one approach. This book is just right.

In addition to showing you how to cast on, weave a seam, increase, or whatever, the author tells you the advantages and disadvantages of each available method. Need to sew a seam? There are 13 different styles, from basic stockinette to sleeves to patch pockets. Her directions for the tubular cast-on, increases, buttonholes, short rows, kitchener stitch bind-off, and so forth, are clear, concise and usually all on one page with a color picture.

The one drawback: No index! But usually you can find what you want using the table of contents. From start to finish, this book will make your life easier with each thing you knit!

I have been knitting for 70 years and I belong to the knitting guild and I do own many knitting books and enjoy most, the ones about techniques.( I am not a machine knitter)
I just got this book but I can see that I will get many excellent ways to improve my habitual knitting.I like the easy to turn spiral pages, the colorful and easy to understand pictures and I appreciate the hard cover.
I also have "Knitting tips & trade secrets" and I thought that the information in the 2 books might be repetitious,they are not I would say that both are very helpful and enjoyable and would be good for whatever level of knitting expertise of the knitter.

I have been knitting for 43 years and was surprised by how much I still had to learn when I read Wiseman's book. This book is a must have book for every knitter's library. Well written, every technique explained in the book is easy to execute. In many cases several different methods for doing a particular technique are given with recommendations for when each one should be used. With this book in your knitting basket you will never be afraid to try a new and challenging pattern again.

I agree with all of the reviews in that the basics are largely covered and the photographs are excellent. The only thing that I wish to point out is that if you have a basic knitting reference on your shelf, you will find that this book does not cover anything new. What it provides is a quick reference to the basics that knitters use frequently in a package that you might be willing to lug around in your knitting bag. It isn't small by any means but it is a heck of a lot smaller and lighter than Vogue.

If you have been knitting for a while and don't need a reference for basic techniques, I'd pass on this book. Be sure to take advantage of the "Search Inside" feature to look at the Table of Contents. That should be enough to tell you if you'll find this book a useful addition to your library.

I actually stopped my knitting and came to Amazon especially to give five stars to this book. It's got a ton of great suggestions and ideas for finishing projects, and most importantly, the directions are clear and easy to read and don't wind up taking lots of extra time to fix or pull out.

I just tried both the knitted hems and the joining knitted pieces suggestions in this book and a project I'm making especially for a Christmas gift came out even better than I expected. Three cheers for Nancie Wiseman!

I just noticed there are directions for reinforcing shoulder seams and knitting shoulder pads in here, which I'll use on my next project. If you only buy one knitting book this year, make it this one (with a close second the very fun 'Stitch 'n Bitch' books...or maybe Alice Starmore's Aran book...;))

As a self-taught knitter, I can attest that no other book (including beginner books) explains the most popular/useful finishing techniques more clearly. The methods are well illustrated with technical drawings, and the end result of each technique is shown in a photo. Each technique has a "Benefits" and "Drawbacks" section which describes when best to use that particular method. Wiseman's constant admonitions to do things correctly or else the piece will be ruined are a bit tiresome, but there is so much useful information in this book that this is merely a minor annoyance.