Review: The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques

The great thing about knitting reference books is that they never really get old, you can refer to them again and again over the years, and probably should, to make sure you’re using the best technique possible for whatever it is you’re trying to do.

The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie M. Wiseman originally came out in 2002 and was reissued as a paperback 10 years later (there’s a PDF version now, too), but it’s still a really good, capsule reference to a lot of knitting techniques.

Despite the word “finishing” in the title, it’s really about all the little details that go into making a knitting project great. She focuses on things you might need to knit a sweater, but many of the topics are useful across different types of projects.

The book covers:

cast ons
increases
decreases
selvedge stitches
bind offs
seams
picking up stitches
borders, bands and finishes
buttonholes
odds and ends like how to join new yarn, weave in ends and store sweaters and yarn

Each of these sections includes detailed but concise instructions on a variety of techniques, as well as pros and cons of each so you can tell at a glance which ones are right for your project. Line drawings and photographs illustrate the techniques and how they actually look in knitting.

In addition there are worksheets at the back for planning a knitting project and doing the math to determine how to increase or decrease evenly across a row.

This little book is full of great information and is small enough to keep in your knitting bag or next to your knitting chair all the time. There are more detailed books on these subjects, but this book will give you a lot of great tips and show you how to do things that will make your garments and other projects look better and make you a better knitter.

Have you read this one? Do you have a favorite book on finishing or other knitting techniques? I’d love to hear about it!

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

Have you read?