Modular Knitting: Simple Modular Techniques for Making Wonderful Garments and Accessories

Sept 06

This is my sort of knitting: make squares, stitch them together. Who needs increasing and decreasing! Other shapes are also shown, some of which could be quite fun to use as a base for the Embellisher. Colour and design are covered briefly, as is texture. The patterns for hats, bags and jumpers are clear but I don't think I will ever be converted to knitted bags.

No. 113, Sept 06

If you would like to make geometric garter stitch blocks that are not simply squares, this book is for you. Unlike domino knitting where every block is worked onto previous ones, these techniques allow you to assemble parts at a time, so that final decisions about colour or shape do not have to be made too soon.

The format is typical of the current output of Search Press: copiously illustrated in colour, plenty of clear instructions, colour coded pages, and very reasonably priced. Basic knitting skills are supplemented by detailed instructions. There are photographs of exactly how to join garter-stitch shapes neatly, as well as the stages in making a Dorset button. My particular delights were finding the ratio for knitting octagons, and the detailed instructions for the made-to-measure hat design.

My disappointment was that whilst there are lots of diagrams of how the blocks can be used, there were far fewer illustrations of finished items. For people like me who are not designers and find it hard to visualise a finished garment from a sketch, some more examples of actual knitting would have been welcome. But that is a quibble: this is a book I shall buy.