Book Review: Vogue Knitting The Ultimate Quick Reference

There are a lot of great knitting reference books out there but a lot of them aren’t very portable. Vogue Knitting aimed for a comprehensive guide to knitting that you can still stick in your knitting bag and take with you on the go with their Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Quick Reference.

The book crams a lot into 184 pages, including:

Basic techniques, such as holding yarn and needles, casting on, knitting, purling, increases, decreases, binding off, cables, stranded knitting, intarsia, stripes, mosaic, lace and correcting mistakes.
Advanced techniques like entrelac, modular knitting, center-out shapes, brioche and double knitting.
Understanding instructions including gauge, schematics, counting rows, abbreviations and symbols
Correcting errors like twisted, dropped and incomplete stitches, lifelines, mending and darning.
Finishing, which includes blocking, grafting, picking up stitches, hemming, cleaning and storage of knits.
Embellishments like embroidery, beads and sequins
Tables and Tools such as needle and hook sizes, conversions and yarn weights.

Even the back flap of the book is useful, as it includes a stitch gauge and needle gauge you can take with you anywhere you take your knitting.

Techniques include written descriptions, how-to drawings and photographs of finished swatches. The pictures are a little small but not so small that they aren’t useful, and small illustrations help them include more information in a smaller space.

This book covers just about everything you might need to know when you’re away from a computer or a more thorough knitting reference book. If you find yourself often wishing you had a handy guide to remembering how to do Kitchener stitch or the right way to pick up stitches or you just want to learn on the go this is a great guide to have.

Flip through the book with me on Instagram.

About the book: 184 pages, paperback with flaps. Published October 2019, Sixth & Spring Books. Suggested retail $22.95.

Next Pattern:

Using your yarn stash is important to me throughout the year, but as I start to feel the end of the year coming on I get more excited about using things I already have in the house. Maybe that’s because I don’t want to go to a store in the thick of holiday shopping times, or I like the idea of having a little space in my stash when the new year rolls around.

It’s super satisfying to use up all the little odd balls you’ve made over the year (or years), and I have several stash busting blankets I work on when it’s cold and will maybe finish someday.

If you’d like to start a stash busting project that’s perfect for using up odd balls, check out the Soukish pattern from Neisha Abdulla. This pattern is made for fingering weight/sock yarn, and it’s worked in a tube with allover color work.

This is great for a couple of reasons. You don’t really have to weave in your ends when you can hide them in a tube (this is one time you might even get by just tying a knot when you change colors!) and you can change colors whenever you run out of yarn and it will look good.

Of course the pattern is made with blocks where the designer changed colors, but you can change yours more or less often as you need to make it work for your stash. You can use blank charts to design your own color combinations, or even your own stitch patterns if you like. You can also adjust the length of the scarf as needed or turn it into a cowl based on the amount of yarn you have.

This project looks like a lot of fun and would be a great thing to have on hand to stitch up and then to wear during the cold, gloomy months.

You can get a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Neisha Abdulla]

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Gather Your Scraps for a Fun Wrap

A Scrappy Shawl Knitting Pattern to Use All Your Odd Balls

Use All Your Yarn Scraps on This Great Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Next Pattern:

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