I have a tendency to keep books that I’ve knit at least one pattern from. I think it has to do with respect, in my mind, but if I don’t change that line of thinking soon, I’ll run out of space. It would probably be easier, and more likely, to just buy a bigger house next time I move. The first in the Stitch n’ Bitch series (you’re already familiar with at least the crochet one), Stitch n’ Bitch The Knitter’s Handbook by Debbie Stoller would be a grand addition to any knitting library. And I don’t just say that because I’ve knit several of the patterns in this book.
The first few sections are like essays, with a great one about fiber arts and feminism. She says, and I agree, that she thought knitting was being looked down on as a hobby because it was considered such a traditionally female activity. “It made me rethink my original feminist position. After all, it had been thirty years since the feminist revolution of the 1970s and housewives as we knew them had pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur, so why, dammit, wasn’t knitting receiving as much respect as any other hobby?” This book was first published in 2003, so we’ve come a long way since then, I think. “Why couldn’t we all — women and men alike — take the same kind of pride in the work our mothers had always done as we did in the work of our fathers?” Now in 2019, of course we know of some pretty famous male knitters like Franklin Habit, Stephen West, and Kaffe Fassett.
The next section is the standard ‘how to’ portion, with plenty of information and graphics on the mechanics of knitting. She’ll tell you all about the different fiber types, how to read a yarn label, how different weights of yarn compare to each other, and more. She writes on all the basics of knitting and purling, both English style and Continental. In the English style your working yarn is generally held in your right hand and the yarn is ‘thrown’ over the needle to create stitches. The Continental method, which I believe Elizabeth Zimmermann also called the German method has you holding your yarn in your left hand and ‘picking’ your stitches as you knit them. Now, I can do both methods and that’s very useful for stranded colorwork but I’m primarily a Continental knitter, because I was a crocheter first and the yarn is almost always held in your left hand.
Patterns in the book start out very basic, like a garter stitch scarf and a garter head ‘kerchief’ to cover your head like a hat, to sweaters, bikinis (no thanks), and more.
Debbie Stoller compiled the patterns from all different sorts of knitters like her other fiber books, but the actual written patterns are edited in a uniform way so the verbiage is consistent.
Taking a look back, some of the essays are a little dated, but they were consistent with the time the book was written, and the patterns are classics.
Pick up a copy on Amazon here…