Book Review – 750 Knitting Stitches: The Ultimate Knit Stitch Bible

A perfect gift for creative crafters, 750 Knitting Stitches is both a stitch guide and a how-to knit primer, all in one volume. You get all the information needed to get started, including how to choose yarn and needles, read patterns, work basic stitches, how to check gauge, increase and decrease, join pieces and finish projects and care for your knitted items.

The comprehensive pattern library includes 750 knitting stitches, from simple to ornate, including knit and purl patterns, basic and complex cables, Fair Isles and intarsia designs, and rib and edging patterns. Each is fully explained with instructions and accompanied by a full-color photo of a sample knitted swatch. All swatches are worked in updated yarns, beautifully photographed and accompanied by easy-to-follow instructions.

Based on The Harmony Guides, which have been a longstanding and valued reference for handcrafters for more than thirty years, with over half a million worldwide sales, this edition is updated with eye-catching photography and innovative new stitches, but also never forgetting the heritage of the guides.

With 750 Knitting Stiches you can knit, purl, cable and yarn over your way through 750 stitches to create any number of beautiful pieces. This really will be the only stitch guide and reference title needed on any knitter’s bookshelves.

The butterfly on this piece — the Owl Butterfly Playmat by Sophie’s Stitches — caught my eye before I even knew what the project was. Now that I’ve give it a closer look I’m still not 100 percent sure what it is meant to be for, but I still love it.

I think it’s maybe to give you a flat surface to roll dice or play cards on, but there are no images of the project in use so I’m just speculating on that. If you know what it is, be sure to let me know!

What it physically is is a worsted weight mat (the sample is worked in cotton) that measures 14 by 24 inches, or 35.5 by 61 cm. The impression I get from the pattern notes and the photos is that you knit the rectangle plain and the butterfly is stitched on after using duplicate stitch, which is provided as a chart.

Of course you could choose to knit some of the colorwork as you go, either using stranded knitting or intarsia techniques, or maybe some of both. It just looks like a lot of duplicate stitch (and it is!) so knowing me if I were making this project I’d probably try to knit some of it instead of stitching it all.

The pattern also suggests that you can knit a second plain mat to sew on the back and cover up all the yarn ends, as well as making the mat thicker and a little more stable. There’s also a photo that shows fabric sewn to the back, which is also a good option if you have some fabric that has a bit of grip.

I like the graphic on this one enough I might just make it as a table pad for our entry way table. You can always make the mat part a different dimension, just make sure you’re centering the image if you do.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Sophie’s Stitches]

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