Yeah, it's an "old" book - 3 years old. I didn't love it, but I don't hate it either. It's definitely written for somebody with a younger attitude that I've got (I'm 39)
The beginning has the how-to knit section. It shows holding the yarn in either hand, knit/purl, caston, castoff, increases/decrease. Looks like a good review of the basics. Like Maggie Righetti's books, the chapters have cutesy names. There is a little profanity (mainly s**t). Things like "in the thick of it" for a section on yarn weights, or "casting call" for cast-on section. I think it's sort of intentional since the first book she lists in the "All the knit that's fit to print...The best knitting books" is Maggie Righetti's Knitting in Plain English.
There's a chapter on fixing mistakes and finishing techniques (3needle bindoff, grafting, etc) and "fancy" stuff (fringes, duplicate stitch, cables, intarsia etc)
Just to show a bit of the book's attitude - here's her names for the different kind of knitters (in parenthese: italics is mine, quotes are hers)
- Hurts so Good (process knitters)
- She's Gotta Have It (product knitters)
- Get Your Freak On" or "artsy fartsy knitters" (Kaffe Fasset-esque I think - she describes as "they like to grab some yarn, grab some needles, and just make something up. Many of them are so busy expressing themselves that they can't be bothered with knitting rules or techniques")
- Old School knitters (the knitters stuck in the 60's/70's as far as colors, fibers, and patterns go)
- Dilettante knitters ("they just learned to knit last week, but already they've spent more money on luxurious yarn than you did in the past year")
- Holier-than-thou knitters (yarn snobs)
I'm not sure which kind of knitter I am/want to be, since to me they all seem kind of negative.
There's a bunch of patterns. In the mix of plain scarves, there's an Illusion knit alien face scarf, for hats, there's a simple baby size stockinette rollbrim hat with an Icord-knot called "umbilical cord hat" and a few sweaters. Pictures of the projects are in color in the center of the book and they're being worn (including the string bikini) not just laid out flat for the pics. One thing I liked about the patterns is there's a little chart at the beginning of the instructions saying what skills you need for the project and what page they're on. I really like the alien face illusion knit scarf and the needle roll and circular needle holder sewing (no, not knit) patterns.
(disclaimer: This is a collaborative post between me and a blogless friend - she originally posted a similar review on a small yahoo group list a few years ago.)
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