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Giveaway: The Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary

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knitting all around stitch dictionary giveaway

Martha is the winner!

My love of stitch dictionaries is well documented. They’re so fun to look through, play with and get inspired by.

One of the potential problems with using stitch patterns in projects, though, is that they can look quite different when worked in different ways, such as flat versus in the round or from the top down versus bottom up. And you might want to work different parts of the same garment in different ways (such as bottom up, flat pieces for a cardigan but working the sleeves top down in the round).

Wendy Bernard has devoted a lot of time to thinking about, swatching, twisting and turning stitch patterns so they can be worked in all directions. She’s written two books on the subject: The Up, Down, All Around Stitch Dictionary and her latest, The Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary.

Both books contain 150 stitch patterns and have instructions — written and charted — for how to work them flat and in the round, top down and bottom up. They are great references whether you want to change the stitch pattern used in a knitting pattern you already have or you want to design something for yourself.

What’s even better about this book is that you can see more of each stitch. When a swatch is reversible, the back of the swatch is shown along with the front side. When a top-down version looks slightly different than the bottom-up version, both versions are now shown. The pictures are large and detailed so you can really see what the patterns look like.

There are also six projects in the book you can knit as they are or change up the stitch patterns, as well as some plain vanilla projects just waiting for you to thrown on a stitch pattern, which is great design practice.

This week I’m giving away a copy of the latest book as well as some Blue Sky Alpaca yarn like what was used in the swatches seen in the book. Thanks to STC Craft for the generous prize!

If you live in the United States and are interested in winning this book, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, May 29. I’d love to know if you have any stitch dictionaries and, if you do, if you have a favorite. I have to say volume one of Barbara Walker’s Treasuries of Knitting Patterns is almost never on my shelf because I use it so much!

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

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Comments

  1. The only knitting stitch dictionary I have is Wendy’s first up down all around book. I LOVE it and would love to add this to my library. I love that It is spiral bound and so easy to use. Thanks for the chance to win!

  3. I have a few how-to books from the 40s/50s which, while not as comprehensive as a stitch dictionary, do have sections with some stitches in them that I haven’t sen in the stitch dictionaries at the library, so I’ll always want to hang on to them. Thanks for the giveaway from KittenWhiplash on Rav.

  4. I own a lot of stitch dictionary but my favorites are the Japanese stitch dictionaries. They are really unique.

Have you read?

Practice Colorwork on a Cute Knit Bunny

Sometimes I feel like knitters get intimidated to try new things because they think they need to start with a big project. Your first time working in the round doesn’t need to be a sock, and your first colorwork doesn’t need to be a sweater, for example. You can find little projects that use the skills you want to learn to build your confidence before you move on to something that requires more time commitment.

This adorable knit bunny, for example.

The colorwork bunny from Knit Picks was designed by Amy Munson and is a kind of bowling pin shaped bunny complete with a knit hat, contrasting inner ears and a little stranded colorwork on its body. Note that the ears are attached the the hat not the bunny, but you could stitch them to the bunny if you’d rather.

It’s worked from the bottom up and also has a tiny pompom tail you can’t see in the picture but it’s a really cute touch. There are a variety of little fair isle patterns to choose from to make the best bunny for you.

The bunny comes out about 8 inches tall (or just over 20 cm) and use several colors to complete the colorwork, depending on the design you choose.

You can purchase the pattern by itself from Knit Picks, or make a kit that includes sport weight yarn in all the colors you need for your creation. There are gray and brown options for the main body of the bunny, but of course if you’re using your own yarn you can make it whatever color you like.

Once you’ve tried colorwork (maybe also working in the round and shaping if those are skills you haven’t used before) in a little project like this you’ll be ready to take on something bigger in no time.

Check out the pattern on Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]