Texture

TEXTURE: EXPLORING STITCH PATTERNS IN KNITWEAR is basically a collection of garment patterns (mostly cardigans), rather than the technical knitting book that I expected. The textured stitches featured in the patterns are pretty basic (e.g., broken rib, moss stitch, horseshoe cable, honeycomb), and the garment designs are kept simple (basic shapes without any unusual collar, cuff, or edging treatments).In the introduction, designer Hannah Fettig explains: "I have been designing simple, wearable knitwear almost exclusively in Stockinette stitch since the beginning of my career. In 2010, I designed a sweater called the Rocky Coast Cardigan, which featured an all-over cable pattern. This was a departure for me, and knitters went crazy for it! ... I have continued to design in my beloved Stockinette stitch .... Meanwhile, I was still thinking about that cabled sweater. What if I did an entire collection of all-over textured knitwear? And what if I ... helped knitters take the leap from simple knit to textured stitch?"This, in a nutshell, is the story of this book. The textured garment patterns are accompanied by modest technical designing instructions and tips (e.g., choosing yarn, measuring gauge in textured stitch pattern, reading your knitting, increasing and decreasing in stitch pattern, etc.). These are the important things that Fettig encountered in moving from stockinette to textured designs, but advanced intermediate and expert knitters will already be familiar with the technical material. There is NO glossary of textured stitch patterns.The written-out (not charted) garment patterns are as follows: Pretty Little Cardi, Eventide Cardi, Jennie Drop Shoulder, Supermoon Kerchief, Boatyard Pullover, West End Cardigan, Wharf Street Pullover, Textured Hats and Mitts, Pierside Cardigan, Art Walk Cardi, Morning Jacket, Big Cable Cowl, and Big Texture Cowl. The patterns should be suitable for adventurous beginner or intermediate knitters. Because the patterns involve texture, they are mostly knit on US size 5 or size 6 needles.Two of the designs, Boatyard Pullover and West End Cardigan, feature all-over moss stitch--something that you probably won't want to knit more than once in your life, even though moss stitch looks lovely!If you love Hannah Fettig's design aesthetic, you'll want this book, but none of the designs appeal to me. The garments are too simple to be inspiring, and none look like they would be particularly interesting or challenging to knit.

rather oddly photographed. Nothing quite straight on. I recommend only for beginning sweater knitters.

Hanna Fettig's latest book, Texture, is a pleasure in every way. It is printed on high quality stock so it feels lovely in your hands as you turn each page to view the beautifully photographed knitted items. Each pattern is thoroughly photographed and described. There is a schematic for each sweater that makes it possible to determine one's size accurately. Ms. Fettig's instructions are complete and easy to follow. I love the book and have several projects in my queue with yarn ready to go!

I like the simple designs and the amount of detail that goes into the instructions.

Beautiful patterns, worth buying.

I may give away this book next knitting meeting, if anyone wants it. The title and cover design suggest a technical review of a variety of textured knitting stitches, and that's what I thought I was buying. In fact, it's a small collection of very simple, very casual sweaters in the sort of basic texture stitches we have all learned long since: seed, double moss, allover cabled patterns, like that. Nice enough, but nothing special.I'm dismayed at the number of knitting books published lately that are badly produced. I recall a cable book with multiple errors in the samples and the instructions, and surely cable errors must be very obvious at least in the sample squares, so why not do it over and do it right? A knitting book with good designs but special abbreviations that are nowhere at all defined -- I spent a long frustrating evening looking and looking through that book for the abbreviations and they just weren't there; I googled the next day and found them in an errata published online, separately. Another bad production is a half-size stitch catalog where the samples don't show up clearly. This book "Texture" doesn't have those faults, though I can't tell about mistakes in the patterns, having not worked through them. The worst problem with this book is the small print: it is certainly two font sizes below standard, maybe more. I suppose a person who wanted to knit one of the sweaters could go to Office Depot and get it enlarged on special paper, but who goes to all that trouble? The book is nice and big and so the font used should be normal size, not shrunken nearly to unreadability.

This is full of lovely patterns. So many are on my "to knit" list

Just as beautiful as the photos I've seen online!! Great looking sweaters that look like something I want to knit and actually wear! Great details given about choosing yarn and about knitting basics. Increasing, cabling, etc...

Beautiful book, what more can I say other than fabulous

Was disappointed with this book! Would not recommend.