Martingale & Company's All About Knitting is, in a way, two books in one. The first half of the book covers many of the basics you'll need to know to get started knitting, as well as some more skillful techniques like colorwork, knitting with beads, adding pockets and more.
The second half provides patterns for babies, kids and grown-ups, as well as accessories and a stitch gallery you can use to change up basic patterns or go your own way with a design.
An Education in Knitting
All About Knitting sets itself up like a knitting reference book that can be used by people learning how to knit or those who simply need a refresher as well as those looking to pick up new skills.
It begins with information on yarn, needles and other tools and moves on to casting on, knitting, purling, binding off and tips for following patterns.
Each subject is covered either in a single page or a two-page spread and may include color photographs, drawings or both to illustrate the important points. That makes this book a good choice for people who are more visual learners but don't have someone handy to learn form in person.
The book goes on to cover topics like increasing and decreasing, blocking, textured knitting, working in the round, color options, embroidery on knitting, special cast ons and bind offs, grafting and more.
It covers a lot of the bases that new knitters and those with a bit more experience might want to see covered. It's not as detailed in its instructions or explanations as some other knitting reference books, but the large number of illustrations also helps to make it more useful.
The Patterns
In addition to all that great knitting advice, the book also has 15 patterns you can use to try out your newfound skills. Three patterns are for babies, four for kids, five for adults and five for accessories.
Most of the patterns are ranked as being for intermediate knitters, while four are called easy and three challenging. But even the challenges aren't much of a challenge for truly experienced knitters -- they're patterns for Stockinette Stitch socks, striped gloves and a mitten and scarf pattern with a small stranded knitting insert.
Other patterns include baby booties, a sweater and hat and mittens, a kid's hoodie and a sweater with a heart motif, a roomy sweater knit mostly in Stockinette and another with a cable down the front, a felted bag, a checkered pillow and a Garter Stitch bunny.
Some of my favorites include the bunny (he's pretty cute and pretty easy), the felted bag, which includes a bit of stranded knitting in a stripe pattern; the striped gloves and the hoodie.
The patterns are all pretty simple in terms of design and since the book covers all the needed techniques, there's nothing here a focused knitter couldn't handle.
This book is a good basic to have on hand when learning to knit or to give as a guide to someone you're teaching how to knit to answer questions when you can't be there. The patterns also provide something to work on without buying another book, which is nice, and the stitch patterns in the back offer ways to jazz up basic patterns and make them your own.
Publication date: September 2008.
