Customer Reviews

Knitting Stitches: Over 300 Contemporary and Traditional Stitch Patterns

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

 

 

This book is simply a reprint of an earlier title "The New Knitting Stitch Library" (Lesley Stanfield). Even the photos are reprints from that book.

And don't get too excited about the claim of over 300 pages, either. The first HUNDRED (that's right, nearly 1/3 of the book) is basic knitting instruction. REALLY basic knitting instruction. If you are advanced enough a knitter to want/need a stitch pattern book, you already know this stuff.

Plus, the graphs reprinted in this book are smaller and harder to see than in Stanfield's original edition. Not a huge problem if you've got good eyesight, but those who wear glasses or have compromised vision will MUCH prefer the original edition.

Shame on you, Firefly, for reprinting a book and giving it a new title and "author". Intentionally deceptive.

I love stitch dictionaries. The description of this book by the publisher is very missleading. There is no mention that this is a reprint. I already own the original book. How disappointing. I will be giving this book to a friend or donating to my local library.

Need I say more. Don't you hate when they try to push a book AS NEW material when it isn't. They want your money that's for sure.
See the earlier reviews and don't fall for the claim that this is new information. REPRINT REPRINT REPRINT
Do the publishers think knitters aren't intelligent enough to figure this out.
Copyrighting - I also think that should be a requirement on the Amazon selling page - whether or not the material has been previously published.
Too frequently, books are coming out under NEW titles only to be the exact book you already have on your bookshelf.
An example of this, two books selling "Finishing Techniques for Hand Knitters" ISBN 1903975 84-0 and "All Stitched Up - The Complete Guide to Finishing Stitches for Hand Knitters" ISBN 0 7641 5552 0 by the same author Jane Crowfoot. Great information in those books, BUT it is the EXACT same book, same pictures, same text, only the title is different. \
This is what is happening here. So if you want this information from Knitting Stitches .... buy the cheaper book that is mentioned in earlier reviews, certainly not both.
Knitter's please help other knitter's with information like this to avoid spending money on duplicate books with different titles.

I consider myself to be a "limbo" knitter. I know more than the basics but not as much as an advanced knitter. I have aspirations to be a well rounded knitter and I found this book to be very helpful. I was taught to knit by by grandmother and she didn't use any terminology beyong "take this loopy doop and squinch it over on the other needle". While this makes perfect sense to an eight year old, as an adult I don't find "squinch" in any stitch patterns.
Ms Webb breaks down her subject matter by basic knitting instruction with various methods for casting on, knit stitches, purl stitches, and casting off. She then goes into easy, moderate and advanced stitches. The instructions and illustrations were very useful in explaining and demonstrating the described techniques.
I think this is an excellent choice for the limbo knitter!

I had to write a review, to refute the other "reprint" reviews. Perhaps if you already own a dozen knitting books, you would not need this, but as a beginner or intermediate knitter, this book is AWESOME!! I checked out half a dozen knitting books from our local library, and none were nearly as good as this. I'm so happy with my purchase of this book.

Why is it so good?? Diagrams, pictures, diagrams!! This is the ONLY book I've seen that actually shows you with multiple well-done pictures how to knit (4 close-up color pictures on how to purl - what it looks like at each stage of the stitch - so helpful). I'm at the stage now where I have knit and purl down, but what is a yarn over? Am I binding off correctly? What is a cable cast on? My left twist doesn't look right - HELP! ALL IN THE BOOK, people! ALL IN THE BOOK, in PICTURES - so helpful.

So I hope that if you are looking for help going to the next step of knitting (or even starting at the VERY BEGINNING), you get this book over other stitch books. I think you'll be very pleased.

One more note: the book is a small thick hardback, that sits flat fairly well (although not completely), with excellent quality paper and printing. It's a well made book, that feels nice in your hands. You will not be disappointed!

Always looking for handbooks of stitches, I came across this book and thought I had made a great find. It was a nice, compact size, the description made it seem ideal. So I ordered it.

PRO: Has a compact, solid feel to it, with sturdy pages, nice glossy surface, and some very nice photos.

CON:
1.The first 100 pages (almost 1/3) of the book are basic knitting instructions - not a stitch library at all.
2. The charts that show how to do the patterns are VERY hard to make out- there is not sufficient contrast between the two colors(yellow-gold background, and medium brick red details). I tried photocopying and varying the contrast. I tried a magnifying glass. It was just so hard to distinguish the pattern.
3. The stitches are divided into general categories: knit-and-purl, rib, cable, twist, lace, etc. and then arbitrarily subdivided into easy, medium and difficult categories of each stitch type. I found this to be confusing as well as inaccurate. In many cases, no one would ever miss the 'difficult' patterns. If a person is able to do some of those 'difficult' stitches, you would not be looking at this book. This book is basic. Some of the so-called medium stitches should be labeled easy, and vice-versa.
4. There are NO WORDS used to describe the charts - just diagrams, which is a fine tool, especially when language might present a barrier, but sometimes words are quite useful.
5. The meanings of the symbols used in the charts is buried between pages 96-101. Not handy at all. Many of the symbols are for intricate cable stitches, which a person could easily go without for years and years.
Summary: The author must have slipped this one past her editor, because it is not clear what she is trying to do here. I don't recommend buying this book. A Harmony Guide is much, much better.

As a beginner, this IS an excellent book for me. I have compared it to two other stitch pattern books and prefer this one. And, as a hardback, I expect it to last longer than The Harmony Guides paperbacks (450 Knitting Stitches (The Harmony Guide , Vol 2) and 440 More Knitting Stitches (The Harmony Guides , Vol 3)), which also look excellent. Furthermore, the original (The New Knitting Stitch Library: Over 300 Traditional and Innovative Stitch Patterns Illustrated in Color and Explained with Easy-to-Follow Charts) ranks extremely highly, and this book is a reprint of that book. So, besides one reviewer's complaint of smaller photos in this reprint, IMHO, this is an excellent book.