The Knitting Stitches Bible

This is a great book if you are looking for inspiration and want to use up your stash to knit squares with textures, motifs, embroidery, cable or stranded colourwork. One page has a large diagram of the finished square and the adjacent one has full written instructions to get you on your way. There is a very full section on techniques which will be great for newbie knitters who want to develop their skills. When you have completed your swatches they can easily be sewn together to make a blanket.

On first sight of this book, I thought it was a stitch dictionary covering various techniques but it is actually a pattern for a throw made up of 6-inch squares and measuring 53x59 inches.

The book opens with chapters on equipment needed, advice on following a pattern, how to make a swatch and read a chart. There then follows a section for beginners on how to knit, etc. On page 56 we come to the start of the squares. The first four are all garter stitch but in different colours and these are followed by the same squares with a chain stitch heart embroidered on them. There are plain stocking stitch squares, moss stitch squares, fancy rib squares and, later, colourwork squares and textured squares.

At the end of the book is a chart showing where to place the squares to make up the throw and how to sew them together using backstitch. Finally, the throw has an added border of double crochet but there are no detailed instructions on how to crochet.

The photographs are very clear and the throw looks colourful, although there is no picture of it in its entirety. It is a book suitable for a very new knitter, which is why each square is described in such detail.

The Marabout Collectif is a group of past and present editorial and authorial contributors to the Marabout (Hachette) list of books. The Collectif is based in Vanves, France.

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