Book Review: Custom Knits
First, the facts:
Title: Custom Knits
Author: Wendy Bernard (aka the brain behind Knit and Tonic).
Published by: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, 2008
Pages: 167
Type: Primarily Patterns, but with some how-to for Design as well.
Chapters:
- Understanding Your Style, Size and fit So You can Make Sweaters You Love to Wear
- Top-Down Raglan Sweaters
- Top-Down Set-in Sleeve Sweaters
- Round Yoke Sweaters
- Designs on the Fly
- Unleash Your Inner Designer: Elements to Alter and Starting from Scratch
Pattern Size Range: XSmall (29″) to 3XLarge (53″)
First Reaction: Nice, classy designs.
The In-Depth Look:
The first chapter is about figuring out what styles work best for you. It discusses things to consider, like yarn, body shape, and ease (how tight the fit is). There are even instructions on making your own dress form with an old t-shir, some plastic wrap, and duct tape. (You may have seen instructions for these online, but it never hurts to have it handy.)
I particularly liked the “Reality Checklist”–a reminder list of things to keep in mind when choosing a sweater. Things like “Does this style fit into my lifestyle?” “Do I look good in this weight of yarn?” “Is the yarn called for available/affordable?” And, my favorite, “Will I be forced to buy new shoes to go with it? (The preferred answer is yes.)” This list is helpful and brought up a couple points that I have to admit I haven’t thought of before making some sweaters, but wish I had.
Once past the beginning, most of the book is patterns. Specifically, sweater patterns. Of the 26 patterns I counted, only three were for items that are not women’s sweaters. (The others were a cape/poncho, a beret, and a wrap–and, no, there are no patterns for men or children.) All the sweaters are knit in one piece, most of them from the top down, which is by far one of my favorite methods–it makes it so much easier to try on for size, not to mention not needing seaming later.
Every pattern in the book comes with a schematic. This is almost de rigeur for knitting these days, but still, not every book has them. This one does, though, and they are helpful.
One of my favorite things is that each design comes with suggestions for things you can do to personalize it. Suggestions for lengthening, or eliminating sleeves. Making cardigans into pullovers. Turning a tank top into a skirt… Which is particularly helpful because, I’ll admit, that last one is not something I would have thought of myself, but judging by the photo, it certainly works.
And, the designs themselves? I think they’re lovely. In fact, there’s not a single one that I didn’t like, even if I’m not itching to pick up my needles and knit every single one of them. The Updated Old Classic (the cover sweater) is a nice, yoked sweater, but more streamlined than the traditional version, with a plunging neckline closed with lacing. Ingenue is a simple sweater suited to a beginner, and yet it looks interesting and eminently wearable with its wide neck and wide, patterned borders. Skinny Empire is a fine-gauge, empire-waisted sweater with a subtle ruffle around its U-neck. I love the varying lenghts to the ribs of Slinky Ribs, too–and actually like both its short and long-sleeved versions.
The final chapter is one of my favorites. It’s titled “Unleash Your Inner Designer” and then breaks down the structure of the different top-down designs … what you need to do a raglan for top down, what you do to do a set-in sleeve from top down–all the math and the schematics necessary. Not to mention a very nice section of instructions on what to do to change a neckline, or the depth of an armhole, to make a design more personal.
This, I think, is my favorite part of this book–that it not only has nice designs, but that the author thoughtfully spells out what you need to do to make the sweaters more “you.” She gives you good designs, and then gives you the tools you need to take them to another level–tacit permission to PLAY, instead of trying to make sure you never vary from the designs she gave you.
Okay, so … what isn’t perfect? My biggest gripe is that there’s no listing of all the patterns, and no index, so finding a pattern that you saw earlier is tricky. All you have to go by is that each chapter is divided by pattern type. How hard would it have been to have added an index?
There also is no difficulty rating for the patterns, so unless the description says something like, “This pattern is perfect for a beginner,” the only way I see to tell is to read the actual pattern. This doesn’t bother me particularly because I’m not afraid of challenging patterns, but if you really want to stay in your comfort zone, a little extra guidance wouldn’t have hurt. Though, that said, none of them look impossibly difficult to me, though the top-down, one-piece construction may well be unfamiliar to a lot of knitters. But, hey, my feeling is that it’s never a bad thing to try something new, huh?
As a rule, the pictures are good ones–they are attractive, well-lit, and easy to see, and there isn’t any obvious signs of trying to hide flaws with slouched models holding large bouquets in ‘artistically-lit’ corners. Some designs are only shown from the front, or side, but not the back, but I’m trying not to read anything into that–as knitwear photography goes, these pictures strike me as playing fair.
Overall? I’d say this one is a keeper. Well worth the $18.15 over at Amazon.
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Tannenbaum.
House Calls
You inspired me to add it to my amazon wishlist!
Chris’s last blog post..A new bag… or two
Yup, this is a must add to the list! looks really good, love that little green vest!
Tanya’s last blog post..it’s hot!!! lol, and a new pimp!
That was a good review of the book, thank you. I’ll probably add it to my wishlist now as well.
I agree, an index is something that should be added to these types of books. However, I’m going to disagree as to a rating system of difficulty needed for each pattern. They should instead have a brief run down of skills that the knitter be familiar/proficient at instead of some arbitrary “difficult”, “easy” label. What makes something “difficult”. is it short-rowing? Is it two-color work? Is it cable-ing? Is it increasing/decreasing? Is your difficult the same as my difficult? Probably not.
Risa’s last blog post..Lap of Wool
Good point, and the book DOES have notes with each sweater highlighting the skills/construction for each. I just know that some knitters–especially beginning knitters–tend to like some “landmarks” as to whether something may be past their knitting skill. You know, like Knitty rates patterns as Tangy or Piquant. If you’re just starting out, you’d probably avoid them; as you’re getting more skill, you’d stop to look at what, exactly makes them Piquant.
Of course, I consider myself to be a pretty advanced knitter and there’s no technique I’m not willing to try, so it’s hard to say for sure. (Especially when you consider my very first “real” knitting project was a circular-knit, color-work Lopi sweater–obviously, I was never really afraid to try anything!)
I don’t necessarily agree with the “Tangy” or “Piquant” labels either. Another way of putting artificial and arbitrary difficulty labels onto a pattern when really, its all just knits and purls in the end. I think the listing of skills necessary should suffice. If you see something in that list, then you know it is a tad more advanced that the level you are currently at. However, someone might consider themselves a beginner knitter but already know all those skills necessary for the pattern but because it was given a Difficult/Tangy rating, skipped it as being more advanced.
Risa’s last blog post..Lap of Wool
I’m with Risa on this one. I think those “labels” intimidate more than they help. But then again you are hearing this form someone who picked an intarsia bag for her first non stitch learning knitting project. The first was a big swatch that was kind of scarf-like but wasn’t intended to be much of anything. So personally I looked at those kind of “ratings” as more of a challenge than a helpful guide… I think people should learn to trust their own intelligence and ingenuity rather than being spoon fed everything. If you like it, make it! Don’t let a rating stop you!
Oh, I agree–It’s the Elizabeth Zimmerman, Thinking Knitter thing. What is there to be afraid of? It’s just yarn… (grin)
Thank you so much for the review. I’m waiting anxiously for my copy to arrive from Amazon (pre-order does not seem to mean it arrives any faster, that’s for sure!). I much prefer top down to any other pattern type & I think this book is going to keep me buys for a very long time. I already loved Wendy’s patterns & now this!!! *swoon*
michelle’s last blog post..4″ into Flair
Thanks for the review too. I was planning on getting it anyway, as I happen to like her designs. But it’s always nice to see someting positive. I like top-down knits too, so I can’t wait for it.
Wanda’s last blog post..Bring on the cuteness!
I enjoyed the review; especially since I am a beginner this helps me with my book choices on a budget.