05.05.2007 | 17:22

The return of the revenge of the son of Vogue Knitting part III

Last Wednesday I received both the spring issue of the Vogue Knitting magazine and the The Best of Vogue Knitting Magazine book. The spring issue was sent after thinking about it for two weeks on April 26th and it arrived pleasantly quickly. (I complained about it on April 14th.) The Best of Vogue Knitting Magazine book I ordered from The Book Depository.

Let's tell the essential of The Best of VK first: it does not contain any knitting patterns. Not a single one. There are no scarves, no socks, no sweaters, nothing. If the title is indeed Best of it might hint that the book could contain the best of knitting patterns and articles published throughout the 25 years of Vogue Knitting, but those hopes are put down already in the introduction of the book, "At once a keepsake and a valuable reference book, The Best of Vogue Knitting Magazine features detailed how-to's on basic techniques". Maybe "Vogue Knitting 25th Anniversary Book" would be a more descriptive title for the book.

I don't know if the book was worth buying or not. The 244 pages contain many things from the history of knitting and VK to today's trendy young knitters along with the promised how-to's. Oh, I'm sorry, I think I lied to you earlier. The EPS revisited article describes the Elisabeth Zimmermann percentage system and that could be seen as a pattern for a basic sweater.

After browsing the book I got the feeling that some of the essays are so up-to-date that they will not last the test of time. However, the how-to's from casting on to designing your own sweater are ageless* as well as the reference information on yarns and measurements. I think I could read the essays at least once, some maybe twice and I could return to the profiles of the knitwear designers etc. on some rainy day if I do not have anything else to do.

How could I describe the book? I haven't gotten into the very essence of it yet and at the moment the thought I have is "something for everyone means nothing for anyone". The book contains a lot of useful information, so I'd most surely use it if I had no other knitting books and I'd like to learn, for example, the Austrian cast-on or if I needed assistance in designing a fairisle sweater. If I could, I would divide the book into two issues. The first part would include the essays and articles, I could keep it in my bookshelf and return to it "sometimes later". The second part would include the how-to's and I could keep it near me and return to it whenever necessary. Now the book seems a bit too clumsy, big and heavy, and I do have some more usable reference books. Their covers are not cute barbie pink and the titles are not in a nice handwriting font, but the books are smaller and lighter (and paperback) and nicer to use...

* Why does every knitting book have the basic "how to cast on" section? Is it really necessary? Really? In every knitting book?

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