Knitting Books - mini-reviews

Just before Christmas I went to the library to get out some books on knitting. As I thought they proved to be a valuable resource in my sock knitting endeavors. Some more than others however, so I thought I'd do a mini review of what I thought of them and what I found useful, from a beginner knitter's standpoint.

It should be noted that these three books were chosen somewhat at random from the selection available at the library that I went to.

This first book was "simple knitting - a how-to knit workshop with 20 desirable projects" by Erica Knight. I got this book because it starts right at the beginning with techniques, and then works onto projects of increasing difficulty. However, while it did cover the absolute basics, as a beginner I found that there were some things that were missing from the explanations and I actually needed another resource (another book or the internet) to fill in those gaps. The most useful section of this book was the images of the swatches of different stitches. Sadly, as a beginner, I personally wouldn't recommend buying this book.

The next book that I consulted was "The sock knitter's workshop - everything knitters need to knit socks beautifully" by Ewa Jostes and Stephanie van der Linden. This book also starts by covering the basics and then moves onto the many different options you have when knitting socks. While the book covers many many options, it makes things simpler for the beginner by having a blue or red "yarn" that you can follow through the book to find the relevant instructions for one of two "beginner" socks that they suggest. This book seems to be a fantastic reference book, with step by step instructions of how to do all the different variations (including many tips to do with options for better fitting socks for different foot shapes), with a stack of patterns at the end of the book. I think it would well serve a knitter right from the beginning of their sock knitting career through to when they are much more advanced.

I didn't actually follow the instructions in this book because I had to choose just one to follow as to not get confused, however I think that I could have easily and successfully followed the instructions here instead of the ones I chose.

The last book is the one that I consulted the most while knitting, it is called "Getting started: Knitting Socks" by Ann Budd.  It doesn't contain as much information as the second book, but includes a comprehensive coverage of how to knit socks. It presents the information in a slightly different order to the sock knitter's workshop, and I decided that it made a little more sense to my brain which is why I chose to use this book as a reference. I found this book a great reference as a beginner as it explains everything very clearly, giving a few alternatives without overwhelming you, and explaining why you might use them. However, I think that once you progress past beginner status you would find less use from this book than the sock knitter's workshop.

If I were to buy a book now (having had a go already) I would probably buy the sock knitter's workshop, however if i were to suggest a book for someone beginning knitting, wanting to try their hand at some socks, I would probably recommend the getting started knitting socks book.

I hope that these mini-reviews have been helpful to someone, and if you have any other recommendations for knitting books or sock knitting books please let me know so I can possibly check them out.