The SnB girl has really grown up. She now has a graduate degree and a job in the new information economy. Her domestic life seems pretty settled too and there’s often a small kid or canine companion at home. Our heroine has continued to knit through all the ups and downs of her life. Her hobby has matured too and she is ready for some new challenges.
Enter “Stitch ‘n Bitch Superstar Knitting: Go Beyond the Basics” by Debbie Stoller.
This book is fabulous. Debbie Stoller has nicely packaged a whole ton of information with incredibly clarity in her distinctive style. Her eye and editorial talent are beautifully discriminating and the patterns are gorgeous. The vibe of this book is first rate; it’s a darn good read combined with fabulous instruction plus visual delight.
I was particularly smitten with the Rococo shawl (blogged here) and have just found the perfect yarn for this project, Classic Elite’s Princess in a gorgeous wine color, aptly named Cotes du Rhone.
As well as chic knitted fashion there’s fun stuff; no Debbie Stoller book would be complete without a pattern that incorporates skulls, in this case the Skull Isle socks by Chrissy Gardiner and Steeks and Stones sweater by Mandy Powers.
I do note a couple of quirky aspects to this book. When I first saw the book cover I thought “How cool, Debbie is on the front cover wearing a half-knit cardigan that she must be knitting from the top-down. Trying on as you go has never looked so cool, I can’t wait to get the Debbie Stoller explanation of top down knitting and how to adapt it for different body shapes.”
Well …….. this book does have a section about designing your own sweaters. But there’s very little emphasis in this section about seamless knitting. It’s mostly about designing and knitting flat pieces that are sewn together. The cover photo is just a shortened cardi, not a garment that’s in process! This was a bit of a disappointment to me because I think there would be a real audience for a modern “can-do” book a la Ms Stoller that covers sweater construction in the round.
My only other quibble with the book is the way it covers cabling without a cable needle. It touts the “rearrange your stitches before knitting them” method. I have previously discussed in this blog post why this method doesn’t work quite as well as “knitting in the process of rearranging”.
However, these are very minor quibbles. This book is a classic and I know I will be using it so much that the pages will start falling apart.
Congratulations Ms Stoller. Please keep going. I hope you have many more books in store for us yet.
