Stitch -N Bitch- The Knitter-s Handbook Description:

Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook review:
4 stars (THE Knitting Book) - I've been knitting on and off for about 5 years, not including the various times my mom tried to teach me. I love to look at knitting patterns and wish I could knit more than just a scarf. This book has been a great help so far. I'm comfortable with the common "knit & purl" techniques but anything after that, I get a little intimidated. This book breaks it down and shows you, with illustrations, just how to make those tricky stitches. With other patterns I've seen they have a difficulty scale and that's my only complaint with this book. I'd like to knit a few of the sweaters in the book but I don't know if I'd be way over my head or not. Other than that, I think it's a great book for anyone who is interested in learning to knit or even current knitters looking for some new, funky patterns. It would make a great gift!
5 stars (Fantastic 'how to' guide!) - I rate myself as an intermediate knitter yet there were still things I learnt from reading the technical parts of this book! Her style is easy to read and follow.
3 stars (A Beginner's Perspective) - This book is great for teaching basic skills--the instructional section is detailed and fun to read. It actually has some of the best beginner instructions of any book I've tried (and I went through a lot of them because I had no one to show me even the basics). It's also great at capturing the hipness and fun of the knitting revival.



My only reservation is the patterns. I feel they jump from the beginner's scarf to intermediate stuff with very little in between. There's not a lot for the true beginner to practice on to gain the confidence to tackle some of the more advanced projects. As far as the selection of patterns, about half are cool, edgy stuff that I would love to try, and the other half look way too homemade. I would give it 3 1/2 stars: very glad I tried it, but also glad I didn't buy it. (However, there is a glorious poncho in there that I vow to make some day!)