400 Knitting Stitches: A Complete Dictionary of Essential Stitch Patterns

Excellent resource for the serious as well as novice knitter. Each of the 400 knitting stitches includes a photo and explanation of how to create the stitches for your own project. It also includes instruction for each of the types of stitches needed to complete the project that is easy to follow. So, if you don't know much beyond knit and purl, this book will show you how to do much more for some beautiful outcomes. I purchased the spiral bound version. There is a slight problem with this format in that the spiral holes do cut off some of the printed instructions. (A letter or more here and there in each explanation is pierced through by the spiral binding. For the most part however, you can still follow the instruction.) The spiral binding does make the book easier to handle when knitting the examples in the book since the book lays flat.

I’m excited to try some new stitches.

Got my book today and was in great shape. I'm very happy to go back to knit something in years. My late grandmother taught me to crochet n knit.

Amazing book for all knitters regardless of skill level. Very nice photos and easy directions. Very comprehensive. Highly recommend

The book contains a wonderful selection of beautiful stitches. However, the compact size of the book comes means that stitch instructions don't have complete row-by-row instructions and the stitch charts are tiny.The book describes the rows in paragraph format:"1st row and 3rd rows: do this. 2nd and every alternate row: do that. 5th and 11th rows: knit all. 7th and 9th rows: do that. These last 12 rows form the pattern."So the reader has to take the time to wade through the paragraphs to search for the row. Hmm, this one must be an alternate row... what do you do on row 6? According to the chart, 6 isn't an alternate row like 4, 8 and 10... of course, unless you also read the chart you don't know it isn't just an alternate row. The text doesn't give instructions for row 6.It would be far easier to follow if the book was large enough to accommodate row-by-row instructions:Row 1: Do thisRow 2: Do thatRow 3: Do thisAlso, the stitch charts are tiny. I have good eyesight and it's a problem to read them, even with reading glasses. I have to photocopy them, enlarging them at least 200% to make them readable.The Vogue Knitting book doesn't have nearly as many stitch patterns, but uses this row by row approach so the instructions are easy to follow. (I own and like both books, for different reasons. Each stands on its own.)It would be well worth the extra expense to publish an instruction book such as 400 Knitting Stitches in a larger format to make it easier to use. I know publishing it with 3 ring binding instead of book binding is wishful thinking, but...

I’m beyond pleased with this book. I have several stitch dictionaries and this is by far the best one of them all. The swatches look very nice and tidy. The color used for the swatches is perfect. The yarn weight used for the swatches is perfect too. Great, professional photos. Excellent selection of stitches and the big reason I purchased it was for the single colored slip stitch patterns… they are all just great! I’m so excited to add these to my designs.

Very easy patternsto follow

I am surprised none of the reviews mentioned this. But this is the first knitting book I've owned where the directions are NOT sequential (1,2,3,4), and instead the rows are grouped by action.Example:Rows 1, 3, and 7: knit. Rows 4 and 8: Purl 2 Knit 1. Rows 2, 6: skip1 knit 3. Etc.So Im having to write down on a sperate paper, in order, what to do in each row. I can't check off which row I've completed or mark it in anyway because of how these instructions are written. It's wild. I really dislike this style of pattern writing.There are ALOT of patterns in this book though and all of them are very nice. I really do love that they show you the front of the fabric AND the back. Each pattern has a chart so you can see what to do visually, in order. I wish it was also in sequential order in the written instructions.