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The title is Custom Knits for one very precise reason-- using the suggestions and detailed directions in the book, a knitter could knit just about any garment desired. Seamless knits can be tried on as you go. This has nothing to do with the fact that I loved Wendy's blog & designs before she published this book. If you make the mistake of judging this book on just the patterns (or worse, the cheeky photography), go back and take another look. It's NOT just another book of patterns for knitters to slavishly follow. No more knitting in pieces & laboriously seaming, only to discover that labor of love doesn't even fit.
For a a new knitter, the patterns offered here are simple and classic with a modern twist, but have the amazing benefit of being knit in one piece.
Right now I am knitting a v-neck, cabled cardigan with set in sleeves based on Tang, which is presented as a turtleneck pullover in the book.
Seriously, sometimes I go to sleep at night thinking about how I can change a pattern in the book to make it into the garment I'm envisioning.
If I were allowed to keep only one knitting book of the many I have on my shelves, this is the one I would choose.
For the intermediate or advanced knitter, this book will set your imagination free.
What Wendy has done here is what I had been hoping someone would do for years-- take the somewhat convoluted and wordy concepts Barbara Walker offers up in Knitting from the Top and distilled them into clear, followable directions and diagrams.
with specific patterns to follow, if you so desire.
That is what makes this book unique and invaluable.
It is a book that gives you the power to knit whatever your knitterly brain can dream.
I'm a fervent knitter, but not yet an experienced knitter. I have always knitted my garments based on written patterns. This book open up a whole new world of possibility for me to design my own knitwear. Excellent instructions.
I am a huge fan of Wendy in her Knit and Tonic blog and have many of her patterns not in this book already in my favorites on Ravelry. I want to make every single pattern in this book. Seamless sweaters are the only way to knit sweaters for me so this book is perfect. I've been pouring over this since I received it a couple of weeks ago. I've almost finished knitting the first pattern (Pink) and will continue through them all. Her patterns are well written and I like how she explains different options to make the sweater unique. This is not only a pattern book, but an instructional book on sweater design.
While most of the patterns provided aren't something I would make, they are all definatly jumping off points for me to consider when I do start my own, original masterpeice and the techniques in the last chapter empower me to jump in with the knowledge I need. I just got this book from the library and am definatly going to purchase it at the next possible opportunity. I have never designed my own sweater, but this book, along with reading Elizabeth Zimmermann, has me getting really close to doing just that. Very good book. A definate must for any knitters library.
Third-wave feminism is to blame by making women think, erroneously, that being sexy is empowering.So, while the book has some good points (the dress form idea, the design-it-yourself directions), it is lacking with regard to the photos, which do not show the sweaters to be well-fitting. One is the section on how to make your own dress form. If you've already made short-row top-down sleeves and you know they fit well, great. The only ones I couldn't see bulging in were ones where the model was standing weird, holding her arms out or otherwise hiding the underarm area.
Anyway, I love top-down knitting, and I'm always looking for inspiration. If I knew before I bought the book that the author had a blog, I would've taken the reviews with a grain of salt and found a way to look at the book in person before buying, because I have seen instances of a blogger requesting her readers to head over to amazon.com to leave a nice review (not saying this author did, but I have seen it before). And the back of the book where the author explains how to design your own sweaters is almost worth the price of the book.My main problem with the book was the designs. It's your book, and I know I don't know much about publishing, but the pictures make or break the book.
And a word from the designer saying that the models weren't the size intended for the sweaters doesn't help. That was great. I don't really have the desire to knit any of them. They look ill-fitting on the models. I bought this book because of all the five-star reviews.
I would hope that authors would be able to have more input. Because knitters have been taught by Maggie Righetti to look suspiciously at pictures in which the model is standing funny, trying to hide parts of the sweater, etc. Some of the sweaters looked OK on the models, but just were not my cup of tea. But most of the set-in sleeve sweaters had this weird bulging under the arms. I've seen other authors make the same claim. The book has a couple of things to really recommend it. I've never made set-in sleeves from the top down, yet, but I'm leary of trying the short-row method and inclined to start with the simultaneous method for this reason.Other people have commented on the models in underpants and bikinis modeling sweaters.
Now, the author mentions in the beginning of the book that they were knit without knowing what size the models were. Well, sorry, but that doesn't fly. Yes, that is a little over-the-top, in my opinion. If not, this book does not inspire you to try them.
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