Translating Between Hand and Machine Knitting

This book is very expensive (I note, with annoyance, that it's now much cheaper than the price I paid just a few weeks ago!) & I bought it purely because of the 5 star reviews.I want to give a more balanced review, to avoid others making the same mistake I did - spending a lot of money on a book that is very hard-going!I gave it 2 stars because the photos are good & very detailed, but it lost 3 stars for being a scary tome with WAY too much detail!For just one example of many, look at the bottom of p143, "It is not possible to discuss lace without mentioning some of the history of lace knitting" - no, actually, it IS possible, but just not for this author! I bought a book on translating between hand knitting & machine - not a book on the history of lace, something which I can find online in seconds!I've never before seen a book that goes so far off-tangent: the author even explains how to use a calculator memory!She even tells us not to label a wet swatch (p270): does that seriously need to be said?!This book could be so much shorter & easier to read without so much endless pedantic detail.Every chapter, or even section of a chapter, comes with a preceding description of what's to come: again, utterly unnecessary & irritating.There is also an inconsistency with the amount of information the author gives. For example, in the early pages, she uses terms such as 'bearded' without explaining what they mean - cue a pause while I find my phone, hunt on Google.... Yet, further on in the book, she takes a paragraph to explain what circular knitting needles are - tools that the vast majority of knitters will be familiar with. She even, on the same page, explains how straight knitting needles work! Anyone who's spent £20 on a book on machine-knitting will definitely already know how straight hand-knitting works!All of this makes what could be an excellent instruction book incredibly text-heavy & overwhelming. Let the photos speak for themselves!Further, the author writes as if it's an academic text, not a book on crafting. It's a very dry read & the occasional attempts at levity feel forced. However, such academic text is badly let down by poor punctuation. Yes, I am anal about punctuation, BUT in a published book (especially one that is so full of words & is double the price of most crafting knowledge books), I expect better.Comma overuse is common amongst first year university students, but not amongst published authors; for the reader, it affects flow & comprehension.Let's take one example: see the paragraph on Coco Chanel which ends at the top of page 20. The sentence beginning 'Although' is 36 words long & would have been far better split into two, or divided with a colon or semi-colon. Here, the comma addiction disappears, echoing the inconsistency of punctuation throughout the chapters I've read so far: 26 words without a comma...I need to breathe! Had the author split the sentence at 'knitted', that natural pause would have helped comprehension: instead, I had to read this sentence several times before I understood the simple point she was trying to make. This mistake, of creating incomprehension by using poor punctuation, is repeated a lot. Maybe it's just me, but I expect impeccable proof-reading in a published book.I'm sure her 5* fans will respond to this with a critique of my own writing: go ahead, but do keep in mind that I didn't charge you £20 for the privilege!

I have just received this book and taken a look through it. What a fantastic book with great detailed information. I am a new machine knitter but have been a hand knitter almost all my life ...this book is perfect for me and it helps combining both machine and hand knitting. Also I have a Silver Reed knitting machine with all the attachments and in this book is lots about Silver Reed machines plus other machines. I think this book will be a bible to me ...I am so pleased I found this lovely modern book for machine knitting including helpful details on hand knitting. If you are a new or experienced machine knitter do not hesitate to purchase this book, it is worth every penny. Thank you Vikki Haffenden

Really clear and well written book. Essential for learning machine knitting and way more easy to digest than the machine manuals. I’ve been inspired to incorporate more hand stitches into my work. This book is a must have for any aspiring machine knitter. The author makes a distinction which elements of the craft she is referring to, not wanting to reinvent the wheel if there is a better book out there. She notes other points of reading through the book which is very useful and added to my reading list.

This book covered everything I wanted to know. I used to machine knit in the 1960’s (and had forgotten it all.) When I returned to it last year I needed help. This is one of these books you can dip in and out of. The lady who wrote this really knows her subject

Every machine knitter should buy this book. It is well written and has helpful pictures and diagrams. It covers topics not covered in other books. The author has an in-depth knowledge of hand and machine knitting. Highly recommend

Best book for Machine knitting

This book goes to the top of my craft book list for 2019! Nice clear information about both machine and hand knitting. I feel able to tackle machine knitting now, because this book has helped me understand how similar hand and machine knitting are. The photos are really well thought out, with close to the knitting shots so its very clear to see what is being done, and there are lots of crisp diagrams showing you how stitches are formed etc. I love the big format charts and graphs that are used throughout to show punchcards and hand knit charts for the stitch being shown, so often these are too small to see properly. Although I have not tried knitting lace before, this lovely book is walking me through reading a lace chart and I plan to try knitting the ‘daisy lace’ pattern. Its so useful to have photos of the same stitch pattern in hand and machine knitting compared side by side and there are lots of hints and tips in each chapter. The little snippets of history and the authors other asides are really interesting for the reader.Do buy this book even if you only think you want to machine knit, because you will be hooked by the time you’ve read it!