In Vogue
It appears I had a bit of an accident when I last visited Amazon, my finger slipped... um... three times and I ordered all of the Vogue stitchionaries.
They arrived a few days ago and from looking through I've been really pleased with them. The first book deals with knit and purl based stitch patterns including a section on lace, this one only contains written instructions for the patterns with no charts. Book two is all about cables and contains both charts and written instructions. Book three deals with colourwork and contains just charts. Each book contains around 200 different stitches grouped in chapters of similar types in increasing difficulty to make them easy to navigate.
Presentation wise I couldn't fault them. The photographs are clear and you can see the whole swatch, not just a closeup of part of them meaning that you can see how the pattern would behave at the edges if you wanted to use them for something like a scarf. The books don't waste space with 'how to knit' sections and are a wealth of information. I don't think they are a definitive stitch guide and the only one you'll ever need (depending on what you want them for) but for what they do contain they're excellent. They're a joy to just flick through as well as a useful reference work and will certainly get a lot of use at Casa Rain.
posted by Rain @ 1:00 pm
29 Comments:
the books sound interesting.It' great to hear there isn't the obligatory 20+ page section of how to knit
OOOOOoooooo, new knitting books are ALWAYS so exciting!
Hmmmmmm... I've got those in my wish list. Maybe I need to have a little finger slip too! :-)
Thank for the review of these books, they have been on my wish-list for a while :-) I'm quite grateful for written instructions as opposed to charts, as I process words better than symbols!
Congats on an excellent Amazon purchase!
I've got just the first Stitchionary (knit and purl) and am glad I bought it. I agree that it's nice to see whole swatches and get a sense for how the edges of a stitch pattern will look. My only complaint is that there aren't charts, but I can always write up a chart myself, of course.
I'm with dreamcatcher--I prefer the written to the charts. This is good info to know! Thanks for breaking them down for us!
They're lovely looking books and thanks for the review. I agree about the whole swatch thing (you know how many scarves I knit!!)as it's great to see the edges too.
MMmmmm, Yummy books! What a happy 'accident' :-) Sorta reminds me of the Barbara Walker books I got but yours have nice colour pictures.
VERY inspiring, aren't they?!
I've been picking them up with the 40% off coupon our local big craft store runs in each week's newspaper. Not the final word, but boy are they fun to look through. And that yarn -- I keep reminding myself that they're only 50gr balls, and there would be jillions of ends to weave in, but boy is it fun to dream. And I can do charts from words, but not so much the other way.
Glad to hear from you.
Amazon is awful that way, aren't they? I can't count the number of times I've had slipping incidents that have resulted in the UPS man bringing me large boxes.
I've wondered about the stitchionaries, so thank you for the review!
Oh what aterrible thing to happen, your finger slipping like that!!
They look fab!
My finger slips all the time too... I'm thinking of having a brace made up for it. Do they sell those on Amazon too???
I've been sorely tempted to buy the stitionaries, and spend at least five minutes flipping through them every time I go to the store... I look forward to seeing how much use you get out of them!
Cool..for a minute, I thought that you had ordered the same book 3 times..whew!
;) I'm sure they'll get a lot of use!
Lovely review, thanks for that - a couple for the wish list, I think.
That kind of accident is always welcome ;)
They look really useful - thanks for the review.
Thanks for the review. They look lovely and colourful! The downside of the Barbara Walker set is that the pictures of the stitch swatches are all in black and white. I'm very tempted to follow you! I like that they show the edges as well which, as you point out, is very useful.
Whoops, that was quite a slip! :0) How fortunate for you!
Thanks for sharing about the books, I've wondered about them. They look like just the thing to curl up with when in need of inspiration. :0)
Hi- Just found your blog! I have been in the market for some reference books, thanks for the review. They look lovely.
It is the holiday season, maybe Santa intervened and your finger didn't slip at all.
ooh, BIG slip! :)
Those books have been living in my shopping basket and have been waiting for a finger slip too. Christmas present for myself?......
ooh! I love stitch books. it seems one can never have too many, and hours of looking through them and planning for fun stuff!
Thank you for the review. I've now popped them on my Amazon list, as I could do with something like this. Hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and very best wishes for 2007.
I have the first one and have the other two on my wish list. :) Lucky duck! I wish you and your family a very Merry Christas and a happy new year.
Hi Rain,
You've been tagged for the "6 Weird Things About Me"! Check my blog if you'd like to play!
Happy Holidays!
I have the first two and the third is on my Christmas list. Please santa, please!!
Coz of that slippery finger, we expect to see loads of exciting stitchy projects in -07.
That'll learn yer.
(oh yeah, got me northern accent back right smartish!)
those look excellent! My big plan for when I get a real, full time job with good pay and steady benefits again: buy the Vogue Stitchionaries and all 4 of the Barbara Walker pattern books. Talk about an Amazon incident waiting to happen!
And the fact that they give you all those discounts if you buy certain items together really doesn't help things one bit...
Oh how funny, my mom just brought the cabled one for me for Christmas. I had asked for it because I already have the knit and purl one and adore it. I'm waiting for a good reason to order the fair isle one. FUN! The one dissapointment for me was the fact that the knit and purl doesn't have charts-I like to use both depending on the project and that irritated me a bit.
Merry Christmas!!!
After Volume 1 languished on my Amazon.com wish list for a year I finally received it for Christmas yesterday. It is wonderful, isn't it? I guess I'd better put the other two on my wish list now so I'll have a hope of getting them in this lifetime! :)
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