Mary Jane Mucklestone150 Scandinavian Knitting Designs

Treated myself to this when I was halfway through a fairisle jumper - it's an absolutely brilliant treasury of designs from fairisle-type patterns to recognisable images - birds, trees, animals, people... Clear instructions and designs shown in lots of colourways- I'm about to start another jumper!!

For years there any Scandinavian knitting design book in print was as rare as hen's teeth, but thankfully in the last few years a number of knitting historians and designers have gone out of their way to remedy that.I first saw this book on interweave and tried to "pre-order" it but was told it was "US only" but no reason why, it would be helpful to the author if Interweave could put something like "see UK edition for the rest of the world." I went and looked it up because I thought "US only" was strange and sure enough it was already in print in the UK!So, I happily ordered it sent here to the Republic of Ireland from Amazon and I am very happy I did so! This book is exactly what it says, a huge catalog of various Scandinavian knitting designs for putting on your home-made ski sweaters, yoke sweaters, mittens, hats, gloves etc.What it is NOT is a pattern book, though there are a few patterns and suggestions put in the back - this book is for those who want to design their own knitting, and provides a way to do that in a very easy and friendly manner. Designs are easily charted out and counted, so know know if your sweater is 45 inches around, you can use designs with 5 stitches to the inch and be even.Even beginning knitters should be able to use this book with the smaller designs, I recommend practicing the two handed "one yarn in each hand" for color knitting - it is a bit clumsy at first but whose watching? Once you "get it" using this sort of pattern book is very easy and it becomes like painting your own knitted objects with yarn.I am so happy to see such a lovely book of traditional patterns and instructions in print - will be telling all the knitters I know about it.

I am very pleased with this book, it is well set out and has lots of nice pictures of the patterns. Instructions are given in the form of easy-to-read charts, and also for colour variations. The book gives 4 projects to try - a pincushion, mittens, a cowl, and a hat, so if you are new to this style of knitting you can get started right away. It also gives a guide for designing your own larger projects such as a sweater/jumper, and how to incorporate patterns into them. There are actually 165 designs in the book, and although some of them are very small patterns just a few rows high they would be quite useful for transitioning between larger designs.Because these patterns are best knitted in the round, the technique of "steeking" is needed for some garments - where your precious knitting is cut with scissors! There is a section on how to do this, which is more informative than some other sweater patterns books I have. If you've never tried it before, it's a good idea to practice on a small project or gauge swatch. It's not difficult, especially if you own a sewing machine, but it is nerve-wracking!An excellent book to have in your knitting library, there are plenty of ideas to liven up your knitting and create unique garments, blankets, socks or whatever you fancy.

I just love this book! I am just starting out in designing my own things and this is a great addition to my collection of stitch dictionaries and reference books.The book is beautifully laid out and very clear. The first few sections discuss yarn, basic knitting techniques and pointers on planning and designing with these motifs. These sections are brief but very helpful although other books would be useful if you really want to get into the 'knitty' gritty of any of those subjects.The star of the book is certainly the design directory. Small photos over a few pages give you a sort of table of contents so you can quickly scan the designs, see them next to each other and easily see which page to go to for more detail. The swatches with small motifs usually combine a few into one swatch.Each of those swatch photos is then shown on a full page with the charts on the opposite page. The charts are wonderful, broken down into black and white grids, and two variations in colour. Each chart makes it very clear how many stitches and rows are involved. Also they are grouped so that motifs with the same or complementary stitch counts are together and this makes combining motifs so easy!This is such a wonderful book and a must have for anyone looking to design with Scandinavian motifs or to use them to adapt another pattern. Highly recommended.

Such a good reference book for Nordic patterns, this has been much used by myself and friends. Clear charts and photographs of all the designs.

This is one of the new books I've bought to learn more knitting designs, it is very clear and has good instructions and matching pictures to guide you. I really like it and recommend it.

This book not only gives ideas for creating patterns used in Scandinavian jackets and jumpers, it is invaluable for instruction in the methods used for knitting them. I was getting rather muddled while trying to knit a jacket from a Norwegian pattern (English translation), a quick browse through this book solved my problems and told me where I'd misunderstood the instructions, and more importantly told me how to fix mistakes quickly and easily. Recommended.

I recently made a nordic inspired scarf and enjoyed the process of making it.I have had this book on my wish list for ages and took the leap. The book looks beautiful and is clearly laid out.This is great for inspiration and mixing it up and making your own unique pattern. I would recommend.