Book Review: Complete Knit Collection for Beginners

Sometimes when you are a new knitter or you are trying to get someone started as a knitter, it can be difficult to pick patterns that will be easy enough for you/them to be successful with but that also aren’t boring or take a long time to knit.

While I’m guilty of using a bulky weight Garter Stitch scarf as a beginner project, something smaller is a great choice to give new stitchers the gratification of finishing a project quickly.

Marly Bird’s Complete Knit Collection for Beginners offers 20 patterns perfect for new knitters, plus lots of tips and advice to get you started (it does not, however, include actual instructions on how to knit).

The projects take you through Garter and Stockinette stitch, ribbing, stripes, increasing and decreasing. There are lots of great basics here that are good for learning new skills or knitting as gifts or for charity projects. (You can see pictures of the projects on the Leisure Arts website.)

Four of the patterns are rated easy and the rest basic, so even if you are a completely new knitter you can find things to knit here. This would be a good book to give as a gift to someone who you want to encourage to learn to knit as well.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2019 by Leisure Arts, suggested retail $21.99.

Next Pattern:

I’m honestly not totally sure what to say about the Sun King shawl pattern from Ursa Major Knits other than isn’t this cool? You should probably make one.

This modular design is worked in two parts, the “waxing” and “waning” sections. Both pieces are asymmetrical and use the same yarns in different ways to mix up the colors and make it even more interesting.

You can choose to use two contrasting solid yarns, a solid and a gradient or two complimentary gradients for your yarns. And you can use any weight of yarn and whatever gauge you like to make shawls of different sizes. There are also a bunch of different size options (seven, in fact) that take the project from a little collar like design to something more like a scarf to a large shawl that wraps around the neck to keep you warm.

The sample projects use fingering/lace weight yarn, but you can use whatever you have on hand to make your own beautiful version of this shawl. Using lace weight, you’ll need twice as much of one color as the other.

There are lots of yarn suggestions on the pattern page on Ravelry, and I love the color choices the designer made so much I’d definitely be tempted to use the same colors they did (there are a couple of different versions on the pattern page if you want to see how it looks in different sizes and different colors).

I love the little diamond shapes a the edges of the pieces, which add a little more drama to the project, as if it needed more.

I’m still not sure this boils down to anything beyond this project looks really cool and you should probably knit it, but that’s pretty much how I pick all the projects I share, so I guess that’s fine. You can check it out for yourself and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Ursa Major Knits]

A Shawl to Wear While You’re Reading and Knitting

A Striped Shawl to Celebrate Progress [Knitting]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?