The Sweater Workshop: Knit Creative, Seam-Free Sweaters on Your Own With Any Yarn

Rating:
Summary: I like this book in spite of the ugly examples
Review: We all have our favorite ways of knitting, and the limitations we like to put on ourselves.

The author is of the opinion that there can only be raglan sleeved, seamless sweaters knit on circular needles or double point needles. Straight needles are a curse, and pieced sweaters with seams and inset sleeves are a pox on the land.

And you must make this hideous little hat sized tube to learn her techniques.

I decided to go along with this dogma, instead of returning the book which was my first impulse upon seeing the positively wretched sample sweaters in it. One would not wear such things if paid to do so.

Then I made the sampler. I cannot tell you how much I learned from this book in two days. I am an experienced if not an expert knitter, yet I had no idea I could learn so much from one book, and an author whose idea of knitting totally excluded my favorite design shapes and knitting tools.

I forgave the author her ugly sweaters, her prejudices against straight needles and her belief that button front jackets (cardigans) are really a waste of time, and a good sweater does not open in the front except for that ugly Henley placket. But what a clever way she has of making that placket! Positively ingenious.

So, if you learn by doing, if you can read through a lot of words to find the next step of the instructions, you will learn from this book at least the following useful things:

How to try on a sweater early on so you do not waste days to make something totally the wrong size,
How to start a placket opening in round knitting,
How to decrease and increase,
How to do short rows, but not why
How to do two color knitting and follow a chart,
How to convert your knitting techniques between flat knitting and round knitting.
How to make tiny, eyelet-like, but neat buttonholes,
How to graft a sleeve in and continue as one piece,
How to make a reversible sweater (not one of my life's goals but interesting).

And you probably will be able to make up your own sweaters, as long as they are raglan sleeved classic "jumpers", or button front cardigans (It's a great day in the neighborhood style!). You might also want to make that great hooded sweatshirt with the kangaroo pocket.

The trouble with all these ugly, and dated designs is that you can buy a hooded sweatsuit that looks like this for about $10 at the local athletic wear store, or get similar raglan sweaters as "drifters" from Land's End in 25 colors.

So learn to knit from this book, there is a lot of good utilitarian information in there. But you are not learning how to design anything hip or stylish from this book, that is for sure.








Rating:
Summary: Great system
Review: When I first got this book, I thought oh-no, but I went through it step by step and this system for knitting seam free jumpers is fool proof, my whole family has at least one now. I hate sewing together jumper pieces, especially sleeves, but dont do it anymore, with this system i still knit any jumper I want from other patterns but finish with a raglan sleeve (which fits better anyway), it just makes so much more sence, this book lives in my knitting basket. As others have said before my "if you knit, you need this book"!

Rating:
Summary: Great system
Review: When I first got this book, I thought oh-no, but I went through it step by step and this system for knitting seam free jumpers is fool proof, my whole family has at least one now. I hate sewing together jumper pieces, especially sleeves, but dont do it anymore, with this system i still knit any jumper I want from other patterns but finish with a raglan sleeve (which fits better anyway), it just makes so much more sence, this book lives in my knitting basket. As others have said before my "if you knit, you need this book"!