There's no need to be intimidated by any sort of knitting, but Marcelle Karp and Pauline Wall help remove whatever trepidation you might have had about knitting sweaters with their book The Knitchicks' Guide to Sweaters: Classic Styles for the Modern Knitter.
The book provides a lot of basic information that knitters need to know before they embark on a sweater knitting project, as well as 25 patterns that combine classic, easy shapes with fun yarns and design elements.
Sweater Lessons
The first part of Knitchicks' Guide to Sweaters provides a basic overview of knitting techniques and information it's helpful to know before starting a sweater project, particularly if you're new to garment knitting.
It covers such topics as the types of yarn and needles that are available, working in the round, raglan shaping, successfully working with double-pointed needles, knitting flat, seaming techniques and different kinds of necklines.
The Knitchicks encourage readers to make projects their own, but the book doesn't offer a lot of guidance on how to resize garments to get the right fit or, say, convert a pattern written for a woman into one that will work for a toddler.
The Patterns
The bulk of the patterns -- 13 in all -- are for women, with 10 for babies and kids and three for men. The patterns aren't rated with skill levels, but most are suitable for advanced beginners, especially those who are comfortable knitting in the round, increasing, decreasing and following basic charts.
All of the patterns are for sweaters, of course, or at least projects that are sweater-like (there's one sweater dress for a girl and a couple of wraps). The women's patterns have a wide range of sizes, with at least three and as many as five size options on some garments. Some of the projects simply call for a measurement of your chest plus 1 or 2 inches for ease and require you to do the math to make the pattern work.
The patterns for kids range from a baby sweater and a toddler's vest to several sweaters for bigger kids. While the younger kids' garments are suitable for either gender, the sweaters for older kids would work better for girls.
One of the sweaters for men offers several sizes, while one calls for the man's chest measurement plus ease and the other is shown worked for a man with a 60-inch chest but could easily enough be modified.
Some of my favorites include the Baby Diamond, an easy little sweater with a diamond design around the bottom; Moni, a mohair sweater that can be knit double in two different colors for a super-warm but easy garment; Loba, a funky cap-sleeved top with a fun hourglass-inspired rib; Isla, a super-chunky Fair Isle sweater with an argyle motif; and Allez Helene, a close-fitting vest with diamond rib pieces.
Bottom Line
The Knitchicks' Guide to Sweaters provides a good overview of basic sweater and top designs for knitters who are new to knitting garments. For more experienced knitters, there are basic projects that can easily be embellished or altered to suit your style.
Either way, it's likely you'll find something here you want to knit for yourself, a little person in your life, or even a special guy you know.
Publication date: June 2009.
