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:

Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

40+ Hot Pads You Can Sew For The Kitchen [Sewing]

A Cozy Knit to Calm Your Mind

Double Knit an Infinity Scarf

Next Pattern:

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