I can name at least a dozen stitch pattern books off the top of my head. But what distinguishes one stitch pattern book from another?
Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns
It’s easy, as members of the knitting community, to stick with conventional wisdom and turn up our nose at other offerings. Everyone knows that Barbara Walker is the queen of knitting stitch compendiums. How could a mass-produced trade paperback possibly compete?
Well, to tell you the truth, the black and white photos in the Barbara Walker compendiums are kind of a turn-off for me. Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns
It also offers directions both as a chart, and written out. This is probably its greatest advantage over other stitch dictionaries, most of which offer one or the other, but not both.
This book’s strength is in its Basic and Classic section. Every knitter goes through an early stage where you’ve heard of seed stitch, moss stitch, and basketweave stitch, and you’d like to try them, but you have no idea what they are. This book is perfect for knitters who are in that stage. You get nice pictures, clear explanations, and a chart for even the simplest stitch.
The presence of charts for every stitch pattern also make this a great book for beginning knitters. Let’s face it – expecting someone to learn how to knit from a chart for a massive lace scarf is a little cold-hearted. Why not start with a chart for moss stitch, and work up from there?
As far as the patterns themselves are concerned, this isn’t the greatest collection of lace or cable (here called “crossover stitches”) patterns. It lacks a lot of what I would consider basic lace and cable patterns (there are no lace leaf patterns, and no braided cables). But it does collect a lot of patterns that I haven’t seen elsewhere. If you already have books that focus on lace and cable patterns, this will make a nice supplement.
Whenever I pick up a stitch compendium, I always close my eyes and wish for a “non-curling” section. Or maybe a little icon, like a blue star, marking those stitch patterns which won’t curl. This seems like a natural, since at least 85% of my usage of these books is for concocting scarves. This book doesn’t have that feature, but neither do any of the others, so far as I know. (But a girl can dream, can’t she?)
Since the swatches are pictured in ultra close-up, and since they have obviously been heavily blocked, the knitter is left to his or her own devices to determine the rate of curling. You’ll want to swatch, of course, and to look for stitches which balance knits and purls. I have spent many many hours poring through this book, eyeballing the swatches and wondering if the knits and purls are balanced.
You see what I mean? Why can’t they just tell us if it will curl?
This isn’t so much a fault of this book in particular, as it is a fault of the genre at large. Some day, when I rule the world. Some day.
Index
The organization is a little unusual. It’s organized into chapters (lace stitches, crossover stitches, “creative” stitches, and so forth). Each chapter organizes the patterns in order of difficulty, from easy to hard. At the front of the book we find its only index, which is a sort of hybrid table of contents.
The patterns are grouped by chapter, but alphabetized within the grouping. The model here is that you’re looking for a jacquard stitch called “Little Flowers.” If that’s the case, you’re set.
However, I wish there was a proper index in the back. There have been several occasions where I’ve been looking for, say, “Split Granite,” but I can’t remember if it’s categorized as a classic stitch, a textured stitch, or a slip stitch. It would be awfully nice to have all the patterns organized in plain old alphabetical order.
Errata
I haven’t been able to find any. I have encountered a few problems with some of the patterns, most notably with their instructions for brioche stitch. (Either this pattern contains an error, or I’m a complete idiot. Honestly, I’m not sure which is true.) No matter which pattern you choose, I strongly advise that you swatch first.
Do you want to buy it?
Despite some quibbles, this book is a great value. $15 for 283 pages – about 500 stitch patterns – it’s hard to go wrong with that. Advanced knitters will find something interesting in the more complicated sections, and beginning knitters will appreciate the Basic and Classic stitches. Get it at Amazon.com!