Knitting School: A Complete Course [Hardcover]

RCS LIBRI (Author)

Book Description

Series: Knitting | Publication Date: October 1, 2003

It's the best course in knitting ever--a complete instructional manual on every aspect of the craft. Now, complete beginners can learn everything they need to know to knit beautiful and cozy garments, blankets, and accessories. Begin by selecting needles and yarn and then start practicing the basic knitting and purling stitches and their variations, including the loop stitch, slip stitch, and crossed stitch. When you're ready, move on to tubular stitches, and learn to increase and decrease your rows of stitches and bind off to finish your work. Instructions are given for a wide range of garment pieces and styles, including various necklines, collars, sleeves, buttonholes, and pockets. Find out how to correct mistakes and mend holes. Add interest to your projects with decorations such as pearls, sequins, and jewels; jacquard and smock stitches, embroidery, braids, fringes and pompoms. Make baby booties, mittens, gloves, socks, sweaters and more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although the title suggests that readers seeking a full knitting tutorial will be able to use this as a master guide, its true purpose lies in its presentation of a variety of knitting techniques for intermediate to advanced knitters and designers. The instructions begin with the basics-casting on, knitting and purling-but the lack of any text other than straight directions may actually confuse and discourage beginners. The volume jumps rather haphazardly from the tools needed (though beginning knitters won't require as many as are listed) to how to design a sweater, before moving on to shaping and complicated stitches (including the little-used tubular stitch), which may baffle novices. However, the clear illustrations are helpful in other areas, such as the comprehensive sections on piecing sleeves, collars, wristbands, hems, edgings, buttonholes, pockets and mending. Basic but worthwhile instructions on embroidery, special stitches and a few small projects, such as gloves, baby booties and socks, are also handy, but instructions on knitting shoulder pads and pleats seem to have come from another century, when knitters had no resources except yarn and needles. While the full-color drawings are very clear, it's too bad that there are no photographs depicting, for example, a correctly completed stitch. Somewhere between a knitting encyclopedia and a beginner's handbook, this volume falls a bit short on both accounts, but it should greatly benefit knitting devotees who want a few techniques at their fingertips when designing sweaters.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A complete course? Pretty darn close. This oversize and highly visual book begins with the basics and then details many techniques that are often not used even by experienced knitters simply because they don't know how: edgings, blocking, more elaborate ways of increasing and decreasing, pleating, and knitting with beads. Instructions, diagrams, and illustrations are all crisp and effective. Although brand-new knitters may not be able to simply work from a book, those who are past the scarf-making stage will be able to follow right along. An attractive treat for knitters who want to learn about going to the next level without jumping into more difficult patterns. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402705190
• ISBN-13: 978-1402705199
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for visual learners, and those who like illustrations, January 12, 2004

By 

Danielle S. (Dublin, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knitting School: A Complete Course (Hardcover)

After buying "Knitting School" through a web merchant, I wondered if I should have bothered since I already own a number of knitting reference books (like the Vogue Ultimate Knitting Book). Unfortunately, it does seem to cover most of what other books in my collection do. However, for those who like heavy illustrations, then this book may be for you. I didn't spot one page that had more text than illustrations. Every page has pictures on it (almost always more than one). There are no photographs in the book (except of yarn in the beginning), and even examples of finished garments are hand drawn. But, the illustrations are very clear and well drawn. If you are a beginner, and looking for a nice book to start your collection, this may be a good choice. Especially if you learn best from pictures rather than text. Most pictures are accompanied by text as well. There are even basic "patterns" in the back for help on making and assembling items like booties, aran sweaters, gloves, socks, etc. There is also information of things such as: embroidery (including motifs for zodiac signs and fancy letters), quilted knits, knitted patchwork, beading, shoulder pads, hems, sewing, pleats, darts, fixing mistakes, circular knitting, and much more.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Knitting School is geared to no one, May 4, 2006

By 

S. Sur "Beads of Glass" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Knitting School: A Complete Course (Hardcover)

I am rating this book zero stars. A totally useless book. But the rating forces you to give 1 star minimum.

It is supposed to be for intermediate to advanced knitters. At that level you know 99% of what is in this book. One or two new things that might be in there are not worth the shelf space this takes up, nor the trouble to find them because of the chaos of presentation.

Commonly known techinques are renamed so there is no way to look up a common term such as "make 1." But there is no way to look up anything the skimpy index. I tried to find "adding yarn/ joining new yarn/ joining yarn" etc. Nothing. Now there are at least three good ways I know for joining yarn, one of which makes an invisible join in mid row. In a book for "designers," this should be described for sure.

The book is mostly hand drawn instructions for techniques with a brief paragraph of explanation next to the picture. The cast on section is sadly limited to three methods, (one if which is using two yarns held together as a separate technique) totally inadequate for designers. No one could learn continental knitting from these drawings which are missing the right hand. It looks like a "one-hand clapping" explanation of knitting. Laughable.

Pages on double knitting which has been renamed "tubular knitting" have a limited audience. The section on entrelac has been renamed Knitted Patchwork of all things. Why rename common terms so that the novice cannot even look them up in a real knitting book? I can do entrelac in my sleep, and I could not figure it out from the lame instructions in this "School." it looks like they are using 6 double edged needles (text says holders) instead of the intelligent way of picking up stitches and moving across. Amazing.

Similarly, quilted knitting is not about the quilted knitting stitches described in Barbara Walker's books, but actually quilting knitting on a backing. I guess you do this to get rid of the advantages of stretchiness in a knited garment and make it into something that looks like the Michelin tire man's jacket?

In all, buy any other knitting book, even the beginning books from Leisure Arts with names like "I can't Believe I am knitting" and you will be farther ahead. At least you will learn the common names of stitches so you can use written instructions that use these standard terminology. And the illustrations are better.

I can't believe this book got published in today's market with its wealth of wonderful knitting books. Obviously, anything can get published if it has Knitting in its title these days.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reference, bad course, June 27, 2005

By 

Barbara Mason (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Knitting School: A Complete Course (Hardcover)

If you already know the basics of knitting, you might like this as a reference book to advance your knowledge. It has some topics, techniques, and tips that aren't in my other reference books ("Vogue Knitting", Katherina Buss's "Big Book of Knitting"), some that I've found useful (one of the seaming methods, the topic on mending worn-out holes, the overview of baby booties). The illustrations are very clear. I check this book, along with my others, before tackling something new.

If you're a rank beginner, do not choose this book for your course of study. The order of topics is highly inappropriate. An egregious example is the very first topic, titled "before getting started". Half of that first topic is on how to design your own sweater, before you've even learned how to knit! You'll be mired in advanced techniques before learning the basics. The casting-on method looks different than what all my other books teach, so you'll be non-standard, for better or worse. And a couple of basic topics are missing - how to read project instructions (although you might figure it out from the list of abbreviations used for the book) and how to knit horizontal stripes. The topics on cables and knitting with multiple colors are weak.

Despite the title, this book isn't appropriate as a knitting course at any level. That's because the order of topics is inane. It often tells you to do something that it doesn't teach until later. Thank goodness for the index. It is good as a reference book to pop around in, in whatever order interests you.

The book has generic instructions for knitting baby booties, mittens, gloves, socks, and an Aran Isle sweater. It does not have any detailed, specific project instructions. The overview of baby booties was very helpful for understanding my first baby bootie project (from another book). The Aran Isle sweater is an intriguing method of knitting a sweater as one piece with no seams to sew.