1000 Great Knitting Motifs

I really like this book! It is just perfect for finding ideas for just the right detail, such as on socks, mittens, gloves, hats, bags, children's blocks, and such. Find the design you like, then you plop it into your project to suit yourself. Mix a number of the charts together for a sweater or pillow. There is even a small icon or two on the edge of each page to give you an idea of a good design application. So many charts, you would never run out of ideas! The charts are arranged two basic categories: Traditional knitting motifs, and Modern pictorial motifs. The Traditional motifs are arranged according geographical region of origin, such as Scandinavia, Lapland, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Mediterrean, Asia, South America, Native America, Homestead America, Aztec and Inca, Celts, Middle East and Arab, Africa, India and Tibet. The Modern pictorial motifs are: Alphabet; Zodiac; the world around us; animals, birds and insects; floral, and toys and the nursery. Then there is a generous section on techniques, and the entire book has a spiral binding, which makes it easy to copy a given page to take along for your knitting project. If you enjoy colourwork, then this book needs to sit on your library shelf, simple as that!

This book is just what it claims to be in its title, '1000 Great Knitting Motifs'. I love looking through it, have used it several times and refer to it often when I am looking for inspiration. The book is divided into sections: Section 1: 'Traditional Knitting Motifs' contains motifs from all around the world including Fair Isle, Lapland, Scandinavia, Western and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia and South America. Section 2: 'Traditional Pictorial Motifs' contains pictorial knitting charts representing Native America, Homestead America, Aztec and Inca, Celts, Middle East and Arab, Africa, India and Tibet. Section 3) 'Modern Pictorial Motifs' includes Alphabet, Zodiac, The World Around Us, Animals, Birds and Insects, Floral, Toys and the Nursery. The book ends with a section on techniques for color knitting. I recommend this book very highly. It will be a wonderful addition to any knitter's library.

I doubt if I will knit from this book, but for loomwork especially this is terrific with so many interesting patterns.

There plenty of yarns and patterns for knitters, but 1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts is the one pattern guide guaranteed to please all levels and styles of knitter. It features 1000 charted motifs to chose from - and not just Western, either: motifs from the Middle East and other parts of the world deftly separate 1000 Great Knitting Motifs from its largely-Western competitors. Add a number of categories which deftly lend themselves to both browsing and quick reference and you have a comprehensive needlecraft library reference including color charts to encourage knowledgable design variations and you have a real reference winner - complete with lay-flat binding for practical access while knitting.

No frills, just patterns, shown in colorful graphs. At first glance, you may wish there were pictures of the patterns as they would look when knitted. But after looking at the book for a minute, your imagination kicks in, and you are able to envision the patterns as they would look in finished form. Then you may, like me, appreciate the fact that there's no wasted space showing pictures of the knitting! Just 260 pages chock-full of graph-instructions, with 1-12 graphs per page! They're great fun, and very inspirational for the imaginative knitter.