Customer Reviews

Norsk Strikkedesign: A Collection from Norway's Foremost Knitting Designers

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

 

 

I am an experienced knitter, I love my size 1 needles, and I do not fear steeks. Nonetheless, it is pretty clear to me why the reviews of this books tend to be about the photographs, and not about the knitting patterns.
First, while there are 22 sweaters in here, finishing out at everything from 30 to 56 inches, each one generally has a single size. Even when there appear to be size choices, they are so nonstandard as to be largely useless: one sweater comes in two sizes with identical circumference, but one is 1.5 inches longer than the other. Each knitter can expect to find only one or two sweaters in her size, not 22 choices of what to knit.
Then there are the instructions. They are charted, but the charts are very small -- 24 rows to the inch, in some cases, and the squares are in colors like dark blue and black, so following these charts will be about the same as copying a design from a commercially-knitted sweater. In real life, we will probably have to re-chart these, or at least keep a magnifiying glass handy. The directions for one hat tell us to embroider a flower according to the picture, and then include no picture which actually shows the flower on the hat in question. I haven't yet attempted to knit anything from these instructions, but anyone planning to should be prepared to add some creativity to the process.
Now consider the designs themselves. We may rave about them as art objects, but in fact there aren't more than three that would be wearable and stylish as they are written. In general, they are oversized sweaters with boxy shapes and drop sleeves. The colorwork is dramatic and lovely, but enormous. Most of us will look like refrigerators if we wear these. (Slim girls, too, since the sweaters are mostly 45-56" around -- they will just look like drooping refrigerators.)
While there are a couple of sweaters I expect to make at some point, I will probably use this book as a source of color patterns for other designs -- with my magnifying glass at the ready.
Buy this as a reference, or for your coffee table, but don't expect to end up with a couple dozen lovely sweaters from it.

This collection is breathtaking and proves there is much more to Norwegian knitwear than the famous house of Dale. The patterns are definitely not for the beginner, and the book does not include any instructions on technique, but intermediate to advanced knitters who want to stretch out will find loads of inspiration.

Ok, so this is a beautiful book, and though it is not out of print, it can be very hard to get hold of. The designs are mostly traditional Norwegian fair isle... But sooooo complex. We're talking mostly size 1 needles here, people, and STEEKING. (Knitters in the know will shudder now, novices get a chill of doom).
But if you flip through, the work is so gorgeous that you actually find yourself wanting to dare... I actually bought the yarn pack for the cover pattern (Season of Darkness and Winter Light). The designs are gorgeous. It is if nothing else, extremely drool-inspiring. [...].

The designs in this English language book establish a class of its own and are way beyond everything else you have seen so far. Never talk about knitting again, how profane! This is the essence of beauty, presented in an immaculate way so stunning that you will refuse to leave the website www.wolleunddesign.de where you can see the different designs in detail. And this is no advertising talk, I just couldn't make myself leave my office yesterday when I discovered this aristocrat of knitting books on the net. All I wanted was a different style, a bit more creativity, away from the granny with the knitting needles. And now I have discovered this classic of noble design and I won't get these stunning pictures out of my mind any time soon! I will just have to get this book and revive the dream with my own hands. This is the art of knitting!

It's been said already that this is very much a coffee table book. I love just flicking through it and admiring the beautiful design elements. I am glad I have this book for the inspiration and the production quality gone into it. There are a few problems with the patterns though: the photos are artsy, and don't always give you a clear idea of the garment construction or how it really hangs; The graphs cover huge areas (ie are small) and printed in the colour of the photographed item, which pitches dark grey against blue for example; and most of the designs are not things that you would wear as they are. Realistically, I would only knit the children's cat jumper as it is. Most of the other patterns aren't structurally flattering, so I would only use the graphical elements but not follow the patterns as they are. However the graphical elements are the most beautiful I've seen.

I wish I hadn't bought this book. Fibermom "chomposy"'s excellent review said it all. Except for the cute cat motif pullover for little girls, I can't imagine anyone actually wearing any of the garments in this book. Even then, make sure to consult the little girl first. That said, the photography is gorgeous. When I was young and dumb I sometimes fell for stuff like this. I love to knit for the sensuous feel of the yarn. Furthermore, if I have some knitting on hand I can talk as long as she wishes with my darling mother who, at 88, is suffering some cognitive impairment. However, I prefer to knit things that I know will be worn, and I've become fairly good at picking such projects. If you want to immerse yourself in a complex, far-out knitting project which you will probably only wear once at most then this is the book for you.

Considered just as a piece of eye candy, this book rates five stars. The photography is amazingly lovely, and the designs are remarkable. Each of the designers represented has a brief biography with discussion of the sources of her design inspiration, and presents two designs. In some cases, these include more than one garment, such as a vest with matching jacket. Each designer has clearly given of her best.

So why only four stars? Because, for a very expensive book that was meant to be used, there are some flaws. You get one photo of each piece, and, as so often in this kind of book, "art" triumphs over usefulness in some of the photos. There are models where you can't see details of the garment that would really help you understand what it looks like in real life, and whether you want to spend months making it. There are tiny additional shots of some of the garments, but that's not enough, in my opinion. The graphs are large and complete, which is great, and printed in full color. But in some cases, the colors are so dark, or so lacking in contrast, as to make them very hard on the eyes.

I got this book because I want to make one of the designs, and found several others I love--so I feel the money I spent was worth it, especially as my chosen design has a couple of those tiny extra photos.

Knitting patterns for the advanced knitter, not for adventurous novices. Skills needed include stranded knitting FLAT, not in the round. This is not a skill for the faint of heart. That being said, the patterns are gorgeous and innovative. The only thing keeping this book from being a 5 star pattern book is the poor execution of instructions. The charts, for sanity's sake, need to be redone. Not hard if you are reasonably computer savvy, but it's time consuming and even then, given the poor quality of some of the charts, you could go crazy. Carpathian Rose Cardigan is good example. It is darn near impossible to figure out the neck shaping because the all sizes are in black, not differentiated from each other much less the chart. Bad, bad bad. There are also no charts for any of the embroidery. You are simply told to embroider according to the picture, which is a bit hard, since there are no quality photos of any of the embroidery. The picture (singular) of one embroidered section of a sweater is, generously, 1.5 inches. And even then, you have to guess at the embroidery placement and colors. Considering that many of the designers have worked for Dale of Norway, one shouldn't be terribly surprised that the patterns assume a lot of knitting knowledge and fail to mention or provide information that would make the instructions clearer. If you have a Ravelry membership, you can see much better photos of the embroidery.

This is an eyecatching coffee table book, which will make you yearn to start a new knitting project. However, none of the sweaters are actually wearable as presented.

My biggest complaint is the pattern charts. The publisher has printed them in colors instead of black/white graphs. Their color separation technique has made them unusable. It is not possible to differentiate purple from dark blue from indigo, therefore half of the design disappears. Two shades of red also blend indistinguishably. Also, a nice black/electric blue/purple pattern shown calls for green and black yarn. Very confusing.

As previously mentioned, needle sizes one and two are specified, which would normally preclude ordinary worsted weight yarn. Nevertheless, the book recommends yarn weight of 120 - 150 yards per 50 gram. Fingering weight or even sock yarn might work better, although your project would not end up as a heavy outdoor garment as shown in the photos.

Drat! I want to do a complicated project, but these will need to be modified by combining assorted patterns, shapes, and styles as well as yarn weight and needle size.

A beautiful book that raises knitting to an artform. I'm saving it until I retire so I have time to tackle one of these magnificent projects :)