Customer Reviews

A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is excellent. I bought this book at my local library's book sale last year for a dollar. It has the most amazing and unusual patterns in it and well worth the money. This is a must have for any serious knitter. The more challenging the patterns, the more I like the book.

This has a lot of unusual knitting patterns that you typically do not see in recently published knitting books. There are 350 different stitches, many of which Barbara G. Walker devised herself.

Chapter 1: Textured Fabrics
Chapter 2: Twist Stitch Patterns
Chapter 3: Cables
Chapter 4: Closed-Ring Designs in Cabling (very unusual stitches)
Chapter 5: Cable-Stitch Patterns
Chapter 6: Lace
Chapter 7: Lace Panels
Chapter 8: Mosaic Patterns
Chapter 9: Color Patterns
Chapter 10: Uncharted Miscellany
Chapter 11: Knitting Directions for Illustrated Samples

I purchased this book thinking it would be similar to the first two Treasuries, but ended up being a bit disappointed. There are plenty of new patterns, of course, but much less than I'd hoped for, and many of them are (in my opinion) unattractive and unusable. Many of the cable patterns fall into this category, and some of the novelty patterns are just weird. The spider is wonderfully life-like, but I just don't know of anyone who wants a big, lifelike, textured spider knitted into their garments.

This was my introduction (and a good one, I believe) to charted patterns. My current obsession is cables, and many (though not all) cabled patterns work VERY well when charted in this way. They make much more sense to me than the written instructions using codes such as FC, FPC, SBC, etc. I've been taking many other cable patterns and charting them on graph paper using the patterns in this book as guidelines.

Bottom line - worth getting, but not nearly as indispensible as the first two.

Charted knitting Designs is divided into the following sections: textured fabrics, twist stitch pattern, cables, closed ring designs in cabling, cable-stitch patterns, lace panels, mosaic patterns, color patterns, uncharted miscellany and knitting directions for illustrated samples. The last chapter showcases a few simple projects that use patterns found in the book. All other chapter include a photo of the finished knitted texture and a chart (or row by row directions in the non-charted section) of the pattern. This makes visualizing a finished product so much easier and makes it easy to thumb through and look at textures. The photos cover a big enough section of fabric to really get a feel for them.

The patterns show all kinds. My favorite was one called "The Mask" in the uncharted section. It allows you to knit a theater mask into a piece of fabric. You increase and then decrease for the nose, so it sticks out for a 3-D mask.

This book is hardly a must-have (because there are so many knitting books out there), but it is very good for visualizing what a finished product will look like.

I have been designing sweaters since 1968, I have found this book to be the absolute best. I am dislexic.... and reading volumes of abreviated knitting discriptions is not fun to me... this book iliminates all that by charting every thing in easy to read visable ways. For doing extensive cable patterns to color design this is the book for anyone fed up with reading the means of each stich seperatley... I would'nt be with out this book for anything... an absolute must to anyone's library of creative crafts...

I enjoy creating my own designs. For much of my life I owned only two books -- A Treasury of Knitting Patterns and A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, both by Barbara G. Walker. Recently I have bought a number of other books including this one. Personally I love the charts -- I've always found them easier to follow than the written English. If you like to create your own sweater designs, then this book is a must

This book is an excellent source of beautiful knitting patterns, including lace, cable and patterns. The black and white photo's of the stitches are so sharp and detailed, the designs pop off the page. The best part, for me, the charts are very large and so easy to see (without my glasses on!)and very easy to understand what she is telling you to do. She also gives some instructional information as well that is very good. If you buy only one knitting stitch book, this is the one to get!

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE READING WRITTEN KNITTING INSTRUCTIONS THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. CHARTS WITH EASY EXPLAINATIONS YOU CAN VISABLEY SEE WHAT IT IS YOU HAVE TO DO WITHOUT GUESS WORK. BY FAR THE BEST BOOK TO HELP YOU DESIGN ANY KNITTED GARMENT!!!!!

... and now that I finally have it, I don't know how I lived without it. Unfortunately, there are not enough hours in the day to knit everything at once, and I don't know where to start ... cabled turtle, crossed stitch spider, lace bat, Persian Sun mosaic ...

I do not read charts YET, but bought this book because of the really good explanation of how to read charts. I have two of her non charted books and love them.The amount of patterns in this book are mind-boggling. And I have to admit, the spider pattern was the real reason I bought the book. My teenagers love that pattern, so I will be working a sweater or two with a spider on the shoulder or on the back. Actually it is fun enough that I may do a wrap/shawl for me with the spider on it just for fun--and I am 40+ years old!

Because if you don't, you'll be miserable. This is not a book for beginners. I just don't like the "you'll learn charts or else" mentality here that is creeping into other knitting publications, and I am not alone in this. The patterns are great. Check it out of the library before spending your money on it. This is definitely a "buy later" book.

Also, be warned, this book is overpriced, as are the others she's written. It is too bad a publisher like Dover didn't get hold of them--the price would be within reach of more people, and more books would be sold.