Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns (Dover Crafts: Knitting)

Mary Thomas is one of the best all around knitting references there is. Her first book, Mary Thomas' Knitting Book, approaches every angle of knitting from a practical and sensible point of view. She doesn't raise knitting to an art form, as so many of today's popular knitting mavens try to do, but approaches it from the practical level of a craft, as it should be, in my opinion. In this, her second book, the reader is given loads of stitch patterns and suggestions on how to use many of them. Practically everything Nicky Epstein put in her books is an adaptation of something in Mary Thomas' in one form or another. Just goes to show you, there's nothing new under the sun! Certainly, this book isn't as all encompassing as Barbara Walker's Treasury volumes, but for such a small book, the reader is given a most far reaching and complete treatment of nearly every kind of knitted fabric from solid fabrics to lace, motifs to medallions, and practical and amazingly complete instruction on designing your own garments and other projects. The "By The Way" chapter at the end gives a lot of the signature Mary Thomas historical information on knitting tools, knitting humor, transcribing a pattern, and caring for your woolens. The book is sprinkled throughout with factual historical gems and trivia that make Mary Thomas so readable and enjoyable. Because I learned to read charts from Mary Thomas' books, I think they are easy to follow, but the symbols are different than most knitting books on the market today. The key provided for the symbols is self explanatory and simple enough that even a beginner can catch on quickly with a little work and attention. If I had only two knitting books in my library, they would both be by Mary Thomas. Under her instruction, I learned to knit socks, gloves, mittens, and made my first original (or so I thought at the time) sweater pattern. I recently had to buy a new copy to replace my mother's worn and falling apart copy. I keep both of this author's books close at hand. I own a lot of knitting books, many of them very expensive, but very few are as helpful and complete as the Mary Thomas books.

This is a really great knitting book. If you could only bring one knitting book with you to a deserted island, this one would be it. I think it was originally published in the 1940's, or perhaps it was earlier in the 30's, but its contents are still contemporary to this very modern day. Mary Thomas explains in a very clear and easy-to-follow way all different types knitting patterns that can be used for different results, as well as different ways to change the patterns to suit your needs (ie. different needle sizes, etc.) A portion of the book covers garment construction, providing a good foundation for those who would like to venture off and design a garment of one's very own. I was surprised to even find a section on seamless knitting for sweaters that I had thought was originally a certain reputed knitter's idea and which this book outdates... I guess a good idea will never die, only to be passed down to the next generation... There are also some good sections on shaping and an amazing section providing different ideas on finishing touches for the final product. I highly recommend this book. Not only will it be an inspiration, but it will prove to be an excellent resource of information that I find myself reaching for often.

I am so glad to find a reprint of this book. I inherited one of the 1930 ones from my grandmother, and have used it for the last 40 years. Now that it's coming apart, I'm so glad to find a replacement. This is a wonderful encyclopedia of stitches, and I have found its clear instructions a wonderful resource for designing my own knitted afghans...

I never ever thought of adjusting commercial stitch pattern to adjust the size of projects, or I never ever dreamed of creating my own, until I met this book. Creating pattern stitches was a mystery to me for long time, but this book trained me to have a far better command of dealing with pattern stitches. I have never found any other book which is like this one. The book shows you all most all the kind of possible "core" techniques, and how they are used solely, or how they could be combined together to creat more complex design. And it shows how the pattern grow and develop from simple to complex. Ant it also explains what alterative ways are possible. The possiblitiy of creating new ones are just infinite. It just the matter of clever combinations of technique in scientific order. It has been nearly 70 years since the book was first written, there are no other books which try to further develop Ms. Thomas's idea, even Ms. B. Walker is not as scientific as. This is like the first so excellent book for piano practicing that you would have so much better understanding when trying other piano lesson books. Lastly, the price is so good. It has so much more value than its price.

This small book is jammed full of great stitches and knitting information. Even more, it includes some drawings of some of the more difficult stitches while being knitted (drawings or swatch photos of all stitches as well). There are some photos of finished items, but no instructions (it's a stitch book, after all) but they are great for inspiration and show how a stitch might look in the finished garment. There are many good suggestions for how a stitch can be used (check out the texture index too!) Since the book was originally printed in 1943, some language is out of date. Not for a beginning knitter. Doesn't have the staggering breadth of later stitch collections. A wonderful reference book which is quite charming and still relevant to modern knitters.