The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques

I own lots and lots of books with different finishing techiques. Cast-ons, bind-offs, increases, decreases, seams, selvedges and buttonholes, I never seem to know how to do the one I really want to do. And most of the time I don't really know the right reason to choose one over the other. Most knitting reference books cover at least a few different options in each of these categories, but most of these books aren't portable or don't give you enough details to figure out what you need to do with a complex technique, or don't help you understand why to select one method over another. Which is what makes Nancie Wiseman's book special.

To be honest, when I first bought this book I was in knitting book glutton mode and was buying anything I could find that would help me improve my garment finishing skills. Initially, I was a little disappointed because the book was so slender. How could it contain enough useful information? I didn't see many "specialty" techniques and I didn't see much that I hadn't seen in other places. And so I set the little book aside and ignored it for a while.

But little by little, I found myself returning over and over to this book. And now I, if I was asked If you were trapped on desert island and you could only have one finishing book, which book would you take? I would select this one. Why?

Well, first of all, this book is one of the few books I found that really provides you with the pros and cons of a particular techique. It tries to help you decide when something would be a good fit with the garment you are working on. This is handy information when you are trying to design your first sweater or are frustrated with the lack of specific cast-on instructions in a Rowan pattern that you want to be heirloom quality.

Secondly, her explainations are excellent and the photography and drawings are clear and supplement her explanations well. If it wasn't for this book, I would never have really figured out how to do a picot edge bind off. When you're working with Kidsilk Haze, you don't want to rip and repeat multiple times and figure things out by trial and error. I searched through every other book I had (which is quite a few) and no other book actually communicated the key points of how to successfully execute this technique as well. Since then, I've had similar experiences over and over with other techniques.

Finally, while the book may not be comprehensive, it really does contain what I've come to believe are the most important/useful set of techniques that you'll need on a regular basis. It tries to make sure that you have a good understanding of the most common representative of a particular category of techiques. Sure, there are 10 different flavors of the tubular cast on, and this book only gives you one. But she gives you enough information to understand what the cast on is really good for, so it's a good jumping off point for understanding how and why if you need to go in search of one of the less common variations.

This careful selection of what is important means that the book is portable and easy to bring along to a knitting outing or along on a trip without feeling like you are carrying your own personal copy of the unabridged Encyclopedia Brittanica. The fact that it is spiral bound and will lay flay while you're working with it is just icing on the cake. I'm a bit anal about my books, and it makes me crazy when I have to crease their spines to make them stay open so I can actually use the book while I am working on a project.

This book may not be the perfect solution to absolutely every situation, but I've come to find it to be one of the most generally useful books I own, and one that I go back to over and over again. Whether you are just starting out on your knitting adventure or you're and experienced knitter, this book has a lot to offer. If you only have on finishing book in your collection, this one really would be an excellent selection and will certainly last you for years to come.

Posted by Theresa at October 13, 2005 10:58 AM

This entry was posted in the following categories: Finishing Techniques , Gotta Have It (****) , Portable/Good for Travelling , Spiral Bound , Technical Reference