250 Creative Knitting Stitches: Volume 4

Yes this will help you get creative with your knitting. Lots of patterns to help entice you to use color, which can be very scary when you are starting to knit. Be sure to get Volumes 1,2, & 3 to go along with this one. The Harmony Guides are great reference tools that almost every knitter shouldn't be without.

`250 Creative KNITTING STITCHES, Volume 4 of the Harmony knitting guides includes advanced knitting instructions for making fancy stitches. Whereas the earlier volumes relied almost exclusively on written instructions, the examples in this volume are not only illustrated with beautiful photos of the finished swatches, they are also shown in diagram form, which is very useful for making a relatively complicated piece. Slip stitch, cables and cross stitch patterns are all shown in detail. This is not a book of projects, such as sweaters and scarves, but rather a book of knitting samples with plenty of information for making each swatch. I find the Harmony Guides useful reference tools, and I have used the patterns in earlier volumes to make test swatches to help me decide whether or not a yarn is suitable for a project from another book. Although I am slightly beyond beginning status as a knitter ( I can knit and purl, and do a few other basic things relatively well). I am collecting the Harmony series, because I know some day, I am going to use this book.

This is the third of the Harmony stitch guides (not including the Aran guide which is rather distinct). Note that the title is slightly different -- including the word "creative." Indeed, this is probably the most intriguing, but least likely to be knitted, collection of the three books. The collection has four basic parts:1. Knit/purl patterns -- simple you think. However, the average row repeat in this group is about 16 rows and several patterns go over 30 rows and over a dozen stitches. Pretty to look at, hard to memorize.2. 20 pages of slip stitch/multicolor stitches, primarily mosaic stitches. These aren't as hard as they look, but tend to create a heavy fabric.3. 16 pages of Cross Stitch/Twist Stitch patterns. Again, not as hard as they look -- cable effect without cable needles in most cases.4. 34 pages of complicated cables. These are the eye candy of the book -- lots of fun to look at, though more complex than the average knitter is likely to use regularly.So, aside from the substance, why buy this book. As with volumes 2 and 3, the color photography is wonderful if you're looking for ideas. As for picking this volume over the others, the biggest distinction is that this is the only one of the three books that uses charts (all three have written instructions). For those of us who are partial to knitting in the round, this is terrific. The charts are not written in the standard "magazine" symbol system and that takes a bit of adjustment.As with my review of the other Harmony books, I urge others to check out the Barbara Walker treasuries. The photography is only in black and white but on the whole I find them easier to use when the needles are in my hands.