Customer Reviews

Lace Style

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are a plethora of lace books for knitting; about five years ago, knitters discovered that lace knitting is hypnotic despite its complications (you get a "song" in your head as you repeat the pattern, according to knitting guru Meg Swansen.) And the results are magical--delicate webs of astonishing beauty with very little yarn can be made by most intermediately experienced knitters.

This new book is refreshing in that it does not call for only cobweb-fine yarn. In fact, a lot of the patterns are made from bulkier yarn including the cover model, which is a very nicely designed loose jacket that would fit most people and is eye-catching in a peridot shade of yarn. It's knit in a medium bulky weight yarn despite its look of a light cardigan. This model would be great for any knitter to try out lace as it is not particularly complicated, and the result is fashionable for minimal effort. This is a tempting pattern, a light jacket you can throw over jeans or a good pair of slacks--I plan to make one soon.

There are more ambitious projects--including Shirley Paden's lace dress. This designer is known for her figure-skimming fit and this dress is no exception. Done in an eye-catching arrowhead-like lace pattern, it is calf-length and done in an aqua-sapphire tone. For the fashion-conscious knitter with a good figure, this would be quite a beautiful dress, possibly something you'd take on a cruise or wear for going out on cool summer evenings.

There are some shawls, none terribly difficult, and shrugs, those short bolero-like jackets that go well with backless dresses. Hats and socks and a few other items round out the patterns.

There is a how-to section about lace knitting and shaping, so beginning knitters will find that with some study, this may push up their skill a notch or two and get them into some sophisticated results while still being able to knit fairly quickly with thicker yarns. The experienced knitter will find plenty of interesting designs. The emphasis is more on shape and fit here, and less on the intricacies of the lace itself as in Shetland or Orenburg lace knitting.

Most knitters will like this book if they enjoy textural and lace knitting or are looking for fashionable pieces that are wearable. I give this book a big-thumbs up.

I enjoy this book quite a bit. The patterns are things I would definitely knit and wear.

There are not many shawls or scarves in this book. It focuses more on lacy garments. While some reviewers were hoping for more shawls, I was very pleased to have less of those and more things I could wear.

Here are the patterns:

1--Just Right Wrap, a hip-length wrap jacket
2--The Point About Cuffs, lacy cuffs to be worn under a blazer or long-sleeve jacket
3--Lily of the Valley Shawl
4--Floral Lace Anklets, cute lace socks
5--Lace-Edged Corset, a strappy tank top
6--Featherlight Lingerie Dress, an airy dress-like top shown worn over a tank top and tights (it's too short to be a dress, but as a top, you still need to wear something under it)
7--Little Silk Shrug
8--The Essential Tank Top
9--Tailored Scallops, a very cute cardigan jacket (pictured on the cover)
10--Ooh La Lace Dress and Stole, a fitted mock turtleneck sleeveless ankle-length dress and matching stole (I don't care for the mock turtleneck and will probably try to knit it without it.)
11--Retro Redux Shrug, a little larger than the Silk Shrug
12--Katharine Hepburn Cardigan, which can be made hip-length or ultra-cropped
13--Long Long Lacy Gloves, fingerless
14--Peek-a-Boo Cloche hat
15--Show-Off Ruffle Skirt, fitted with a nice twisted rib pattern
16--Leg Cozies (leg warmers)
17--Lacy Waves Top, a 3/4 sleeve sweater
18--Greta Garbo Garden Hat, a wonderfully flamboyant hat knitted and then shaped using blocking and wiring
19--Never Wimpy Wimple, can be worn over your head or down around your neck like a scarf
20--Sterling and Crystal Cuff, a bracelet knit with silver wire and Swarovski glass crystals
21--Shetland Shawl Turned Vest, a tank top with straps crossed in back

Some of the patterns were things I couldn't see myself ever knitting, but the majority of the designs were exactly what I was looking for--lacy, wearable garments. The cardigans and shrugs can be worn dressy or casual, which is great for someone pragmatic like me.

Interweave Press is consistently producing some of the most interesting and inspiring knitting books on the market. Lace Style is the latest entry in their Style series, and features 21 patterns which use lace. Some are the kinds of patterns you'd expect -- a lace stole, socks -- while others use lace as stitch patterns in entire garments. The book cherrypicks from many of today's top designers, including Joan McGowan-Michaels, Veronik Avery, and Nancy Bush, to name a few. High production values with lots of color photography and tips in the back for how to work with lace and use it in your own designs. Lovely patterns, inspiring and challenging -- another winner.

21 designs of lace, and only 1, well maybe 2, shawls!
This really goes to show that lace can be more than a table cloth or a shawl.
One of the best things about this book is the full information given on the yarn for each pattern. They tell you the weight recommended, and then give the full stats on the exact yarn that they used for the item in the photos. Yarn weight, yardage, everything that I would need to substitute another yarn, or my own homespun. There's a couple of really little / quick projects, and a couple that look really challenging.
And, with all that, there's a wide range of sizes for each design.
There's a few pages, but not too many, that show techniques, and really good photos that illustrate the way different increases, decreases, etc. will really look.
One of the quotes: "... the patterns will give you new ways to think about knitting lace..."
I cannot wait to get started!

I received this book a few months ago and it wasn't until last week that I tried one of the patterns. It was the Lace Trim cami, shown on the back cover. This was not a simple pattern, made with #3 crochet thread and size 3 needles. It had multiple steps and took some time. Once the bodice was made and assembled, lots of finishing touches had to be knitted.
The photos and instructions for this delicate garment were very clear and thorough, easy to follow one step at a time. The cami is fully fashioned with lots of shaping, even darts! It's finally completed, and mine actually looks like the one pictured, very professional. (That doesn't always happen, sad to say).
Lace Style is now part of my permanent knitting library, and while I haven't chosen a second pattern, I look forward to trying more.

There are quite a few patterns in this book that I would never make (the Great Garbo Hat, for example), but what I like about this book is that there are sweaters and vest patterns in it. I really admire knitted lace shawls, but I could never see myself wearing one. Sweaters and vests are definitely more my style - especially the Katherine Hepburn sweater. It's very classic. The sweater on the cover is also nice. I don't like this quite as much as Scarf Style and Wrap Style, but I'm not sorry I bought it. I also like the section in the back that shows how to correct some common errors in lace knitting.

I really like this book and have returned to use the patterns more than once. I like the beautiful full page colour models of each pattern and the easy to see pattern guides, it is a very well thought out, layout book and I have enjoyed it very, very much. The patterns while being very modern are simple and delightful and can be adapted easily to some of the modern wools, as well as the traditional homespun, which I use more of.
Congratulations

Interweave Knits traditionally does a great job of their "Style" books. This one left me a bit disappointed. I think it is that while I love knitting lace, I've mostly selected lace projects that are shawls, stoles or large lace scarves. This book was heavy (for my tastes) in lace sweaters, lace cardigans, etc, and not so laden with the sorts of lace garments I love. If you are a knitter who likes to knit lace sweaters, then this is a wonderful selection. If lace shawls, stoles and large lace scarves are your thing, then perhaps individual selections elsewhere would suit you better. Just my opinion.

Very nice book, most of the designs are lovely. However, I'm the type of knitter who wants a chart for every lace pattern, no matter how simple. Not every pattern has a chart.

I'm currently working on the Tailored Scallops jacket on the cover, and the pattern implementation of the size I chose makes the jacket look much different than what is photographed. Because the feather & fan stitch is a fairly big pattern, this is somewhat reasonable, but I'm going to frog what I have and rework the pattern myself. This is disappointing to me, since my size is the medium one (I'm a 10/12), and you'd think the pattern likely to be used most would be written to show off the stitches. As it is, the dense part of the pattern dominates the lacy part. Fixing it will require more complicated instructions, not of the type where you can change the number of stitches and repeats with parentheses (e.g., repeat 2(2,3,3,4) times). Really putting the extra effort into patterning for each size would make this a 5-star book.

I own this book and think it was worth every penny I spent on it! The patterns, with the exception of the knitted dress, were very nice and I could see myself knitting them.