Knitting in Plain English

I bought this to help me get back into knitting over 10 years of not knitting anything and so far it's been very helpful at refreshing my mind and helping with things that I had trouble with pre YouTube being much help.

As someone new to knitting--and as someone without a mentor to help me--it was imperative that I find a good book. The first book I found targeted 9 to 14 year olds; I'm in my 30s. However, it was instant gratification: I could get needles, yarn and a how-to book all at once, and start knitting that afternoon. After using the little booklet I got in the local crafts store, I was able to make the basic knit/purl stitch, but I had no idea how to keep track of where I was in a pattern. I had no idea how to look at a stich and tell whether it had been knit or purled. And although my stitches were quite even and attractive, I was getting extremely discouraged in trying to keep various patterns straight in my head: was that the sixth stitch after the yarn-over, or the seventh? Is this a purl row or a knit row? And when I tried to do a seed stitch, I often ended up making a rib by accident, simply because my eyes weren't educated; I didn't know how to look at the stitches I had just made. How happy was I to get my copy of /Knitting in Plain English/ by Maggie Righetti! If you're a beginning knitter who has mastered the simple art of knit and purl stitches, but you need common sense advice on how to keep track of your knitting... if you want a clear illustration of the visual difference between knit and purl stiches as they lay on the needle... if you want a great reference for various simple techniques like I-cord... and if you need a troubleshooting guide with a wonderful index (a well-organized and thorough index is a key difference, I might add, between a good book and a great one) then this is the book for you. I can't recommend it highly enough. What's more, it's well-written and a fun read. In fact, if you know any beginning knitters, you couldn't do any better than to make a gift of this book to them.

I enjoyed reading this book very much. My friend taught me hands on how to do the true basics, casting on, knit and purl, and looking at the work to see what I've done and where I'm at. But this book took me through full projects from buying tools to picking out a pattern to reading and making the patterns work to fixing mistakes to finishing up by hiding ends and hand blocking the garment. There's so much common sense and reassurance a person needs to get through a knitting project. When I met those little pitfalls and uncertainties that could make you throw your hands up and give it up forever, there was always an answer for it in this book. I felt safe in Maggie's hands, and it's always in my knitting bag. I'm on my second real project, after having completed three of the practice exercises and one fabulous success of a sweater.