Tweed: More Than 20 Contemporary Designs to Knit [Hardcover]

Nancy J. Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2008

From tartan to twill, tweed woolens are known for their classic looks and understated stylishness. Today, tweed has emerged from the English, Scottish, and Irish countryside to become a contemporary fashion favorite. In Tweed, the first-ever guide to knitting with tweed yarns, Nancy J. Thomas offers an expert knitter’s appreciation of this emblematic yarn while providing advice on choosing and caring for tweed yarns. She recounts the history of tweed yarns and fabric, explains how tweed yarn is made, and teaches you to simulate the look of woven tweed fabrics in your knitting.

Tweed includes more than 20 projects, arranged by difficulty, that are specially designed for tweed yarns, while also covering a variety of stitch patterns and techniques to help you take advantage of the appealing nubby texture of tweed woolen yarn. Beginners can opt for a North Sea Hat & Scarf Set or a Tweed River Pullover, intermediate knitters might try a Harris-Style Sampler Cardigan or a Dublin Cabled Vest, while advanced knitters can apply their skills to an Isle of Skye Jacket or an Outer Hebrides Sampler Throw.

Tweed is perfect for today’s knitters, who appreciate knowing about the history of the yarn they’re working with while creating classic projects that bring a venerable knitting heritage into our own time.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

For more than 25 years, NANCY J. THOMAS has been the editorial voice of the most widely circulated knitting magazines, including Vogue Knitting, Family Circle Easy Knitting, and Knitter’s Magazine. She is the Creative Director of Tahki Stacy Charles, a high-end yarn company with a bestselling line of tweed yarns.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Potter Craft (April 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307381323
• ISBN-13: 978-0307381323
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.7 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Divine Donegal..., April 21, 2008

By 

anonymous - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tweed: More Than 20 Contemporary Designs to Knit (Hardcover)

Nancy Thomas is apparently Creative Director for Tahki Yarns, and Tahki's tweed yarns are used exclusively here. The book is organized by difficulty level, and it includes projects ranging from scarves and blankets to felted bags and sweaters. Techniques include striping, cables, mitered squares, and intarsia. The projects all use worsted or bulky yarns, so many should work up pretty quickly, and if one doesn't wish to use the Tahki yarns called for by the patterns, substituting should be simple.

My favorite items in the book are the sweaters, which tend toward classic silhouettes and understated cabling--if you love the ubiquitous Central Park Hoodie, there a few sweaters to like here (though some are bit more outre). The size range here is good, with most garments sized from 34"-50". That said, the garments are almost exclusively for women; there's a unisex vest (a Norah Gaughan design) and a few unisex accessories, and there are no children's garments.

All in all, it's a lovely book, and I look forward to making a number of projects from it.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful classic knitting with wool, July 20, 2008

By 

Cheryl Pinkerton (Leonardtown,, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tweed: More Than 20 Contemporary Designs to Knit (Hardcover)

Nancy's Tweed book contains a wealth of lovely textured (cable) knits, and some color work, in a variety of warm & fashionable sweater, vest, cardigan & accessory designs. I was pleased with the patterns (both written & charted), sizings and garment styles (mostly women's, but some unisex)...favorites are a large mitered square scarf, a fresh cabled pullover,cozy classic cardigan, and an interesting vest where the cables morph into various pattern designs as you knit upward.

Only regret is the very short section on pattern stitches that work well for tweed yarns.

30 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful book with knit-able designs, June 2, 2008

By 

Carol Mello "marzeedoats" (San Jose,CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tweed: More Than 20 Contemporary Designs to Knit (Hardcover)

This book has been amply reviewed by two other reviewers but its star rating has been knocked down by a worthless review from a third reviewer. I want to get that star rating back up where it belongs because this is a wonderful book about tweed knitting.

I love tweed yarn. I love the flecks of color and nubbiness of it. (Big fan/collector of Texas Ware spatter bowls! Check 'em out, other tweed lovers.) But not every knitting design looks good in my favorite yarn. Here's a whole book of designs that are peachy for tweed. I like every design in this book. I like the history of tweed yarn and technical glossary for tweed yarn section. The pictures are lovely. It's an attractive book.

I just got the book in the mail today so I have not tried any of the patterns yet (verified whether they are flawless or have errata). I am intending to do 15 of the 20 designs which is a good percentage of interesting designs and makes my purchase of this book a good buy.

Who should pay attention to my appraisal? People like me...I am a person who prefers to dress casually rather than formally. I love flecked colors and bright colors. I like geometric designs. Although an advanced beginner knitter (or low-level intermediate), I can do textured knitting such as cables and seed stitch. I am not at all fond of frou-frou lacy stuff. As both an advanced sewer (40+years) and a relatively new knitter (2+ years), I favor simple & comfortable patterns but I am not afraid of a challenge (I'm a can-do kind of person). I LOVE Texas Ware bowls (I mentioned that already didn't I?) -- simple, light-weight, colorful, and very useful. This is a knitting book for Texas Ware bowl lovers.