A to Z of Knitting: The Ultimate Guide for the Beginner to Advanced Knitter
A to Z of Knitting: The Ultimate Guide for the Beginner to Advanced Knitter by Martingale & Company is a thorough but standard learn-to-knit book. It starts at the beginning -- literally, opening with a history of knitting. From there, the book walks you through the things you need to learn before you cast on: needles, yarn fibers and textures, sundry tools and accessories, abbreviations and how to read patterns and charts. It even tells you different ways to hold the yarns and needles.I am not fond of the cast on section. It begins by stating that all cast ons must begin with a slipknot, which is not true. The most commonly used cast on, the long-tail method, uses no knot, and is not taught in this book. However, the rest of the instructions are tops. Other tutorials include: basic knit and purl stitches, increases, decreases, ribbing, buttonholes, bobbles, cables, adding beads and sequins, fair isle, entralac, short rows, lace, looped knitting, knitting in the round, embroidery and decorative stitching, multiple methods of correcting mistakes, grafting and seaming, blocking, fringe and tassel, pom-poms, and caring for your knit garments. The photographs are clear and easy to follow and all in color. You would be surprised at how many knitting books only have sketches or black and white photos. Each technique also comes with a photo of a finished swatch, so you know what it is supposed to look like. --Alyse Wax, Knit Picks, Blogcritics Magazine