The Harmony Guides: Lace & Eyelets: 250 Stitches to Knit (Paperback)

~ (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I like that the new guides are cataloged by stitches . . . the originals were full of a little bit of everything."  —knitty.com

"This is the ultimate reference library for those knitters who like to explore different textures and designs."  —Yarn

Product Description

Offering clear, concise knitting instructions, this series has served as a classic reference for handcrafters for more than thirty years.
 
Lace can lend sophistication to any knitted project, and this updated guide features 250 lace and eyelet designs to delight knitters of all skill levels. From Butterfly Lace to Knotted Openwork to Open Diamonds with Bobbles, each swatch is accompanied by a helpful photograph and easy-to-follow instructions. Both new and classic yarn varieties are covered, and insider tips designed to facilitate personalization are featured throughout. Practical and simple to use, this all-in-one handbook even fits in a knitter’s travel bag.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596680571
• ISBN-13: 978-1596680579
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,544 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #22 in

  Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Lace & Tatting

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better pictures, less patterns, still no charts, December 5, 2007

By	M. White (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I compared this new version of the Harmony Guides thoroughly with the older Harmony Guides, and ended up going with the older versions. The new guide does have fantastic pictures, but that's about the only improvement I see over the older versions. There are less patterns per book, and there are still no charts (which would have easily fit on the very large, mostly blank space, pages). If you absolutely must have clear pictures, then definitely get the updated Harmony Guides. However, if like me, you are willing to sacrifice some picture quality to get a larger number of patterns for inspiration, then go for the older versions.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible editing, inconsistent, May 14, 2008

By	L. Cunitz (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Please, please do not waste your money on this book. I should have listened to these other reviews and did not. The book is horrible, I could spend more time detailing the problems with it than I did looking at it getting more and more aggravated as I turned each page.

First of all, who writes a lace book with how to cast on instructions? In an attempt to pick out more unusual patterns they went for all the ugly ones, not that I can tell, many of the photos are such close ups that the look of the knit fabric is lost. With all that white space (there is a ton of it) could they not have used two pictures. And I am not even to the worst part yet. Want to yarn over? Well you will have to read through instructions that say yf, yb, yfon, yfrn, yo, yon, yrn with a glossary hidden in the back after graph paper? Please, who sketches pattern ideas in a book?

There are instructions to wrap the yarn (why with seven different yarn over instructions do I now need to wrap yarn too?! Then there's knit and purl "twisted" as opposed to "KB1" which means knit into back of next stitch, as opposed to tbl. The last straw was when they told me to "draw sl st over". All this work for ugly or common stitch patterns. I am going to try to get my money back. I have never ever returned a knitting book in my life.

Oh, I forgot the ridiculous knitting platitudes sprinkled though out the book as 'tips'. It is hard to pick just one they are all so dumb but here you go a knitting tip: When you make a mistake, correct it by ripping back stitch by stitch". Gee thanks. The tip on page 29 combined two unrelated items so they make no sense all - editing I think not. Erika Knight should be thoroughly embarrassed.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the Originals -- buy the Vogue Series, December 18, 2007

By	Mahlers2nd "Mommy of Many Interests" - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I have the original Harmony guides and when I found they were going out of print, stocked up. I take the more narrow books to Kinkos and have them put a spiral binding so that they lay flat and are easier to use (spring for laminating the front and back cover to make them more durable as well).

When I saw that the new guides were out, I bought all three. However, I have to admit to being disappointed. They are very bland in colors -- some of the pictures don't look significantly better than straight black and white photos of Barbara Walker fame. While the size and format is more "portable", the photographs are not a significant upgrade from the original versions.

I think Harmony was trying to come out with an updated set of dictionaries to be more competitive to the Vogue guides. While on the surface, these may look more competitive, the Vogue guides are superior in terms of production value and selection of stitches.

You are better off looking for the original harmony guides which are significantly cheaper and investing in the Vogue guides if you want the pretty pictures.