Hip Graphic Knits: Unique Patterns and Techniques for Adding Stylish Graphics to Your Knitted Designs
581108
This book LOOKS really cool but I was sorely disappointed with the ho-hum graphics.  I thought they were a bit boring; I had really hoped to see some funky designs.  There were only 2 or 3 HIP and FUNKY designs in the book and the rest were very mainstream.  Yawn.
2525500
I devoured this book! It has the crme de la crme of HKs finest Vogue Knitting magazine articles from a 25-year time span that, in itself, could be used as an adjunct to the eponymous Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Book, in all of its iterations!

This 2007 hard-cover, heavy, slightly oversized book with dust jacket has 244 semi-glossy pages, many of which have color photos of various items: yarn, demonstrations of executing different procedures (buttonholes, adding post-knitting elements, etc.). Other graphics include black and white pattern-pieces; black and white with gray-tone tables for body measurements, Notes, pattern charts for intarsia motifs (and other repeated patterns), pattern graph pieces, and steeks, to name a few; and pastels mixed together to demonstrate stitch formations on needles (also in color photos), among other things.

The editor is Tricia Malcolm, Editor-in-Chief, Vogue Knitting, who was born in Australia and learned to knit at an early age without having seen Vogue Knitting until years later.

The publisher is Sixth&Spring Books, NYC.

This book has 2 pre-part Sections: Contents and Foreword.

Following these, there are 13 Sections of the book with numerous sub-Sections (the exact magazine articles from past VK issues). Note: I will include the sub-Sections (the exact VK articles) for Section 2 only. Buy the book to see the rest of the sub-Sections (the VK articles) from Sections 3-13.
Section 1: Introduction: A Look Back

Section 2: a. A History of Knitting (1983) Sylvia Jorrin
b. So You Think You Know the Twentysomething Knitter (2002) Lilly M. Chin
c. The Knitting Revolution (2002) Meg Swanson
d. Essay: Knitting for Victory (1988) Anne Macdonald
e. Where Are the Knits of Yesteryear? (1986) Margaret Bruzelius
f. Essay: Nasty Knitters: A Literary Mix of Knitting and Mayhem (1986) Margaret Bruzelius
g. Patterns of History (1991) Kelly Hargrave Tweeddale

Section 3: Fiber

Section 4: Starting Out: Basic techniques

Section 5: Working with Schematics and Charts: Deciphering the Mysteries

Section 6: Casting On and Binding Off

Section 7: Expert Finishing Tricks and Techniques

Section 8: Round and Round: Special Techniques for Knitting in the Round

Section 9: The Design Process: Techniques from the Experts

Section 10: Shaping and Sizing: Techniques to Achieve the Perfect Fit

Section 11: Caring for Knitwear

Section 12: Designing Men

Section 13: Designing Women

There is 1 post-Section unit: Index

Note: For all of us Elizabeth Zimmermann (EZ) fans, you will want to read the wonderful VK article, In Loving Memory: Elizabeth Zimmermann, celebrating her life, with a special note from her daughter Meg Swansen (pages 238-239, the last pages of the articles). What a fitting way to end this book. Please see my EZ review of The Opinionated Knitter, which includes her famous Baby Surprise Jacket and Adult Surprise Jacket patterns: https://www.amazon.com/Opinionated-Knitter-Elizabeth-Zimmermann/dp/0942018265/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Opinionated-Knitter/dp/0942018265/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Opinionated Knitter</a>&nbsp;.

For those of us who weren't faithful 25-year VK subscribers and only occasional buyers for an issue with a specific article of interest, this book combs through all of the issues and selects the most informative articles for us.

This is a book that needs to be on all HKers library shelves. It doesnt matter what level knitter a person is because even Beginners will be nudged forward to want to build a solid foundation for learning how to knit with this book.
4639366
I purchased this book several weeks back from Amazon and have started knitting the "Textured Shrug" pattern. This book is a great follow-up to Ms. Japel's first book "Fitted Knits." The same eye to silhouette and fit is present here in this second book. The patterns have a retro feel, albeit with a more modern look, and I am planning on knitting several more patterns from this book. The photography and styling are impressive. The only problem that I have with this book, if you can call it a problem, is that the pattern instructions are printed on colored background, which sometimes makes it hard to read the wording. Also, please note that there are minor errors in the "Fitted Shrug" pattern. A correction has been posted in the knitting group, Ravelry. Nonetheless, this is a great book with great patterns, and I highly recommend it.
4024924
I love these designs...very creative and fun to knit.  HOWEVER, this is definitely NOT a book for a beginning knitter, or for any knitter who likes to follow patterns exactly as written.  In order to enjoy these clever designs, the knitter must take the time to think, and to chart out the next step....
3069164
Beautifully designed patterns. Classic styles with a modern, geometric, super colorful twist. Nice illustrations of techniques in the back, as well as straight-forward charts for lace knit and color sections. Super excited to start knitting!
881107
This book has a lot of lovely knits in it, several patterns that I can't wait to try.  The idea of them being almost seamless is also a real plus.  There are vests, sweaters, cardigans, and dresses.  The patterns are appealing and varied.

My favorites are the Deb Vest in a blue-greay color, knit in garter stitch with Blackstone Tweed Yarn from Berroco.  I love the Jenny Cable Vest, knit in an off-white aran with beautiful accent cables.  The yarn is Jeannee from Plymouth.  The Judy Cardigan Jacket is something to wear anywhere - work or pleasure- and is knit in a lovely gold hue.  The yarn is Ultra Alpaca from Berroco.  The Perri is a tunic length vest in subtle stripes of light grey, yellow and off white.  The yarn is Fresco from Wisdom Yarns and is 100% cotton.  The Wendy pullover sweater is bright and snappy looking.  It is striped in bright colors with a basket weave texture.  The yarn is self-striping and calls for Sonnet from Wisdom Yarns.  I also loved Patti, a cardigan sweater in a heathered brown with three buttons at the top.  The yarn used is Iceland from Crystal Palace.

I don't think any knitter could go wrong with this book.  It has sizes for real people, not just small sizes.  The patterns are varied and lovely and there are patterns for every level of knitter.

Bonnie Brody, 8/9/11
3153083
A wonderful purchase and worthly addition to any knitters collection.  My wife wanted this book and the patterns are unique and she thoroughly enjoys reading it
1409336
I really like this book! It is just perfect for finding ideas for just the right detail, such as on socks, mittens, gloves, hats, bags, children's blocks, and such.  Find the design you like, then you plop it into your project to suit yourself.  Mix a number of the charts together for a sweater or pillow.  There is even a small icon or two on the edge of each page to give you an idea of a good design application.  So many charts, you would never run out of ideas!

The charts are arranged two basic categories: Traditional knitting motifs, and Modern pictorial motifs.  The Traditional motifs are arranged according geographical region of origin, such as Scandinavia, Lapland, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Mediterrean, Asia, South America, Native America, Homestead America, Aztec and Inca, Celts, Middle East and Arab, Africa, India and Tibet.  The Modern pictorial motifs are: Alphabet; Zodiac; the world around us; animals, birds and insects; floral, and toys and the nursery.

Then there is a generous section on techniques, and the entire book has a spiral binding, which makes it easy to copy a given page to take along for your knitting project.

If you enjoy colourwork, then this book needs to sit on your library shelf, simple as that!
4563851
I am very happy with this book - every technique that is featured has detailed photos and it has many. many techniques included that are extremely helpful in general knitting and design. Very happy.
3519782
A good book for anyone who wants to expand their knitting pattern repertoire.
2473691
With this book (a recent find from a thrift store) I could discard over half of the items in my knitting library. It opens up the world of knitted sweater design like no other book I've seen. I've rarely followed a knitting pattern verbatim, as it's a lot more fun to make up my own. And I prefer knitting to measurements. Well, this is the perfect book for my kind of knitting.

What this book does is to describe then show in graphs nearly every form a sweater can possibly take. In the table of contents I counted 22 body and yoke shapings. It lists 8 basic necklines, then shows 29 variations of v-neck collars alone. Over two dozen sleeve and cap configurations span decades of styles. What a candy store for knitters. I'm enjoying reading the terminology too. I can't wait to knit a box cap sleeve, and a draped neckline. I love that the pocket section begins with measuring the hand and the length of the arm, like another favorite book of mine and a wonderful grandma substitute for those of us who missed being taught knitting in our childhood -- Ursurla Von Wartburg's The Workshop Book of Knitting. The Knitter's Guide to Sweater Design must have taken years to compile, and seems to represent many more years of knitting experience. It includes all the basics of yarn, measurements and fitting and many finishing details. Now I can actually see what all these shapings look like, which helps so much when beginning to visualize a project, then follow the step by step guidelines for charting and knitting. It will be a great tool for my beginner machine knitting projects too. This book joins my trusty 1968 America's Knitting Book by Gertrude Taylor, which contains the most beautiful buttonholes imaginable the contrast thread Julia Bowman buttonholes. It sits beside my other Very Necessary Knitting reference books like my trusty Mon Tricot dictionaries, The Tailored Sweater which includes a customizable spreadsheet for perfect fitting top down set-in sleeved sweaters, and another favorite book from Interweave Press, Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Top Down Sweaters, which contains tables that work in a similar way to the Tailored Sweater, but for four basic sweater designs. Well, I'm thirty years late to this party, but I'm happy to sing the praises of this wonderful effort.
2948163
This book has recently been put back in print; the previous edition was so coveted and scarce that copies were extremely hard to come by and very expensive to buy used. Why is a book of 125 pages of black and white charts so desirable? First, it's put together by that master of Fair Isle (two color per row knitting), Alice Starmore, who is known for her exquisite colorwork interpretations of traditional Fair Isle knits. Her books are treasured around the world.

If you like to knit, you may be the sort that branches out from recipe-patterns and adapts them to your own tastes, or you may be a designer who starts from scratch or nearly from scratch and wants a source of two color patterns to blend into a knitted design.

The patterns run from the traditional geometric OXO Fair Isle with "Peeries" or the smaller, narrow bands with small stitch repeats, going only up a few rows. These are traditionally put between bands of the larger OXO. There are also patterns derived from nature: flowers, birds, berries. Of course, there are pictures of finished work to give you inspiration or just for the joy of their beauty.

In particular, if you are an aficionado of colorwork, there are patterns that are derived from various cultures such as the Peruvian motifs and my personal favorite, the geometric designs of the Komi, Sami, Latvian, Estonian and other northern peoples from Eastern Europe and Western Asia. These designs are particularly interesting as they take advantage of a peculiarity of stockinette (flat) knitting done either circularly (all knit) or knit-purl flat knitting. In this case, the stitch to row ratio is 5:7 meaning if you do five rows, it takes seven of them to make a square bit of knitting. But these folk designs, which look like large diamonds with fronds or branches, make perfect squares sitting on their points due to the way knitting works up. They are often seen on hats or mittens. The design is said to be a geometric representation of the sun and its rays.

In addition to band patterns (run horizontally), there are center panel patterns (run vertically). And there are all-over patterns, useful for blankets and sweater bodies.

This book has been long awaited to come back on the shelves and it's one book I consider a MUST-HAVE reference if you do any of your own knit designing or modification of existing patterns. Now it's available for all and that's a really good thing. This book of patterns is one I highly recommend for anyone who loves colorwork.
201852
New ways to use this pattern than just square plan to make a rectangle afghan by adapting the shawl pattern
2787612
If you are looking for a book to teach you some advanced color techniques, or embellishment techniques, this is a great book for you!  The author gives thorough instructions on a number of color techniques.

The photos are lovely, and the patterns could still be worn with a little updating (remember mutton sleeves?) The less-experienced knitter might consider this book as an "inspirational book" in that it would encourage the knitter to stretch their abilities.

Particularly interesting and unique are the author's instructions regarding how to embroider a knitted piece.  They are the best and most thorough I've ever seen, and would likely produce the most professional-looking results.

This is a knitting resource worth adding to your knitting library.
2707801
This is a very good book for anyone interested in doing top down knitted sweaters with set in sleeves. I've knit several other patterns for them but this is the best, most thorough explanation - with diagrams - that I have ever seen. It's as tho the author is sitting on the couch next to you as you knit. There are several that I will knit, including the cover pattern...which is lovely. Great book. Highly recommend!
2949977
I just received this book and am pleasantly surprised.  First, the patterns.  There are several sweaters I would actually knit:  the cover sweater with the slip stitch designs, the colorblock pullover, the Fair Isle sweater with bell sleeves, the yoke sweater with faux embroidery, the striped raglan, and the Harvest cardi.  I also liked the pattern on the Andean pullover (on the back cover), but I didn't like the cropped style.  I even liked the argyle vest and knee socks, though I am primarily a sweater knitter.  There were a couple of patterns I didn't like - the scarf (Kristin Nicholas is just NOT my style) the pillow, and the flower mittens; however the great majority of the patterns appealed to me.

The book also has a small section which briefly goes over the different color techniques and gives references for more information.  I found the tips in the section helpful, and didn't feel it was lacking.  I have other reference books with Fair Isle techniques and history that are more in-depth.  This being primarily a pattern book, I didn't expect a long section on how-to.

Overall I would say this is a great pattern book.  It has contemporary takes on intarsia, stranded knitting, and stripes.  I think it is easy for intarsia and stranded (Fair Isle type) sweaters to look dated, but I really found these patterns appealing.
4547726
Mary Beth Temple is a crochet designer whose work I've liked for a while. The reason is because she combines classic crochet techniques and stitches into contemporary fashions that are wearable. A lot of her designs are also relatively quick to stitch. Also being plus sized, I appreciate attractive crochet patterns that fit my build.

The patterns in this book are American crochet terminology with international crochet notation as illustrations for the stitch patterns.

It starts with detailed information about changing the size of the patterns, and adapting them to different yarn types. It explains how to shorten, lengthen and change the fitting of patterns, as well as swatching then testing the swatches for the method you plan to use for laundering or checking how stretching will affect the fabric. Handy if you're like me and generally prefer cotton yarns.

Then you get to the patterns, which are all shown on lovely women of different shapes and sizes. This book is heavy on the sweaters, pullovers, cardigans, shells and vests. There are also some outwear and accessory patterns and one gorgeous skirt.

The patterns start with suggested yarn types, but also include the Craft Yarn Council of America's sizing for that yarn and the gauge is listed so you can try it with a different yarn easily. They are all written in good detail and easy to follow. I'm better with charts than written instructions so I'll refer to the charts for the stitch pattern and use the instructions to know where to increase and get the right measurements and shapes.

The variety of patterns is good. My favorite long sleeves sweater in the book is the pullover on the cover. Her version uses spike stitches as colorwork accents on the yoke and wide sleeves in a nearly floral effect, and it has shaping around the waist to pull it in some and reduce bulk, then flares out to skim over the hips. The yarn weight and look of the sweater make it a great one for fall and winter months.
For sleeveless sweaters, the Perfect Base Tank Top is made using a fine yarn in a shell stitch and is nicely fitted. The fine yarn and shaping keep it from being bulky and the shell stitch help keep it from getting boring to make.
The Essential Cardigan is a basic cardigan great for all sort of winter and fall layering, and it's my favorite cardigan.
Other things I love in this book are the Traditional Cloak, the Sensible Shawl and lacy Wrapt Top. Andee Graves' skirt is just fabulous, a wrap skirt with a beautiful shape made from wool.

Good instructions, contemporary designs and the sizing goes from XL to 5X. The designs are handmade boutique in styling. Out of 25 patterns, there are only a few that aren't my style at all, and I believe this book will have designs that will appeal to most women who like fashion crochet with a good fit for larger body types.
[I received a complimentary copy of the book to review on my craft blog- Don't Eat the Paste. My reviews are always my honest opinion]