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 Dictionar
y 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!
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!
Gorgeous! The perfect way to make swatching and dish/wash clothes fun!! Just in time for summer hot weather knitting!
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.
I own a lot of stitch dictionary but my favorites are the Japanese stitch dictionaries. They are really unique.
I love the Barbara Walker treasuries and Susanna Lewis’ Knitting Lace book.
I have several of The Harmony Guides stitch books which I really like.