Customer Reviews

Shawls and Scarves: The Best of Knitter's Magazine (Best of Knitter's Magazine series)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is great! All these wonderful patterns from old issues of Knitters magazine have been reprinted together in a more durable format. My copies of the original magazines are dog-eared and not always easy to find, so this book has a definite place on my knitting bookshelf.

If you're new to knitting shawls, this book is a great introduction. The patterns represent a wide variety of traditional and more modern styles. As with most pieces from Knitters, the designs are sophisticated and often challenging. Techniques are well-explained and will give you the background needed to move beyond pre-fab patterns to design your own.

However, this doesn't mean that the book is only for expert knitters. I'm an intermediate knitter, but I made my first Faroese shawl from a pattern included here. It was a technical stretch at first, but not undoable. The result was one of the best, most wearable, and most satisfying pieces of knitting I've done. I'm now starting my second shawl.

This is not a book to buy if you want a mindless project in stockinette. But if you want something that will expand your knitting horizons and give you something to wear on chilly winter nights, then this book is a great choice.

(Oh--and did I mention that shawls tend to be forgiving if your gauge is a little off? That's always a plus in my book.)

This book contains patterns for shawls and scarves from previous issues of Knitter's magazine. With so many issues of Knitter's magazine out of print, and selling for fantastic prices (one issue sold for almost $50 on Ebay) this is a most welcome book. If you like shawls and knitting you will enjoy this book.

I originally checked this book out from the local library and found that I would have to own my own copy. There are a few patterns that would be suitable for beginners, but I would definitely pay attention to the skill level rating on each pattern. My only complaint would be that the terms "laceweight" and "fingering" seem to have been used without discretion. While lace knitting is generally very forgiving in terms of gauge, it is frustrating to know that the "laceweight" yarn you purchased is not even close to the "laceweight" yarn that was used in the pattern. Patterns are included for round, triangular, faroese, shetland, and rectangular shawls. The patterns include both written instructions as well as charts to accommodate any preference. Color pictures are provided for each pattern, as well as each variation of pattern. Yarns range from mohair to cotton, and from sport weight to laceweight. A 4-page "Knitter's School" in the back of the book provides instructions for standard techniques, as well as some more advanced techniques specific to circular knitting.

As expected, this book includes lots of traditional and innovative shawl patterns, however its true value is that it is an instruction book for designing your own shawls.

Shawl construction is solidly covered (e.g. the many ways of creating a traditional Shetland shawl, which consists of a square centre, lace border, and lacy edging), and explicit suggestions are given for how to design your own (e.g. the designer suggests using patterns with repeats of 15 or 14 plus 1). This is where things get interesting. You'll need to pull out your stitch dictionaries, pencil and graph paper, because after you read this book, the urge to design your own shawls will be irresistable!

A side note: if you've bought one of the later reprints, you don't have to worry about errata. If you have a copy from the original run in 1999, the errata can be found at the Knitting Universe web site.

This is the book that got me into lace knitting. ALbeit i am a fairly experienced knitter, but i found nothing about this book too terribly frightening. what difficulties of design that there are, such as in the 'seamless' construction of the true Shetland shawl, are explained clearly, and the "knitter's school" at the back covers every technique that might be new to a less experienced knitter. While i am not a big fan of charts for lace knitting (i am not a visual person)it's easy enough to read the chart once, and write ona slip of paper the pattern for that row. It helps you keep it in your head better as you knit, i think, and for purposes of space and efficiency, i certainly can't fault Knitters for using charts--otherwise the book would be bulky and prohibitively expensive. THey cover shetland shawls, faroese shawls, and round shawls in clear chapters, covering design basics as well as giving a sampling of yummy patterns. one warning though, if you buy this book you WILL end up absolutely NEEDING to acquire more 'lace stitch library' books so you can design your own shawls!

The Lace Knitting issue (along with the Scandanavian knitting issue) are the rarest back issues of Knitters magazine you can find (issues #9 and #14) After a lot of requests to reprint the lace magazine, this book was created.

One shawl in particular (a turqoise oblong oval) is stunning. Many of the other patterns are available in other forms or in improved forms in newer books (ie Faroese, Pi) But if you longed to have this issue and can't find it, this is really a good reference book to have. However, for knitting shawls, I would recommend instead, or in addition, Cheryl Oberle's book on Folk Shawls, which has far more variety.

I absolutely love this book! Eugen Beugler's "Lace Dream" Stole was worth buying the entire book alone. I have borrowed a few of the lace patterns to use in designing some of my own shawls, scarves, etc. This is also where I first heard of author, Myrna Stahman, whom I have met on line and consider a good friend. This book is a valuable resource to me. I highly recomend it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the learning portion of this book, and planned to knit the Faroese shawl. Fortunately, I belong to a sock knitters blog and someone who knitted this shawl warned everyone that it was riddled with errors! I still enjoyed many of the techniques that is shown in the book. But I'm understandably concerned about the accuracy of their patterns.....Katie

Beautiful designs but definitely not for beginners. It can be intimidating if you're new to lace but it's worth the effort. I'd consider myself almost an expert and there are enough patterns in here to satisfy the urge for simple designs and the challenge of something more complex.

Lovely collection of traditional lace shawls and patterns, updated and improved. Some of them are hard to find, and it's convenient to have a compilation like this. It does take experience to work some of them, but the patterns are clear and certainly span the world of shawls and lace. Can't decide which to try first. Beware though - if you are not a patient knitter who can stick with a project, this is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you're up for a challenge that results in a beautiful classic garment, there are many ideas in this volume.