Handmade Style: Knit
Janine Flew, Ed. (Murdoch Books)
AUD$29.95, ISBN 1740457595
We admit having had very low expectations of this book-there's a glut of books aimed at the new-to-knitting crowd, and publisher-driven knitting books tend to be incredibly boring middle-of-the-road offerings. But the whole Handmade Style series (which also includes, thus far, the titles Quilt, Bead and Paper) has clearly had plenty of thought put into it from a production point of view—the graphic design, styling and photography are top notch.
And this is not just pretty packaging: how-to information is also gorgeously presented, with clarity and depth. The marketing is also slick: the beautiful uniformity of this whole series means chances are good that if you like one, you'll like them all, and each title in the series is reasonably priced.
Knit covers the basics—a man's jumper, a throw, cushions, hats, scarves and a bag—along with some more challenging designs such as a lace twinset knitted in silk ribbon. A great thing about Knit being an Australian-based production is that the designers and the yarns/stockists are local, which makes for easy purchasing here at home. (Extra points for including smaller independent yarns and designers such as Mollydale and Sarah Durrant.)
Beginners are catered for with tutorials; more advanced techniques such as how to block, picking up stitches, preparing fabric for use as yarn and dyeing yarn are also covered. Knit is well suited to someone who is looking for a helping hand without the attitude—there's no bitchin' here.
—kylie gusset