Mosaic Knitting

This book is listed as hardcover, ex library edition. What I got was a softcover schoolhouse press edition. Just so people know. I wanted a hard cover, but this will have to do

This book is terrific. Yes, it's mostly charts, as someone else noted -- but what charts! The technique is so simple that it hardly needs more than a pamphlet-sized introduction, and then away you go! There are hundreds of patterns in here, including a series of "magical" mosaic squares that are doubly symmetrical. Beautiful, intricate designs -- exactly the kind of thing that makes any Barbara Walker book a good buy.

Note to the knitter looking for line-by-line patterns for sweaters and socks, complete with color and yarn recommendations: This book is not for you. It contains no projects of any kind, but simply an in-depth exploration of a technique that can be used in the creation of an infinite number of original designs. Barbara Walker, whose treasuries of stitch patterns and charted designs are the mainstays of every designer and every knitter who wants to advance beyond fuzzy garter stitch scarves, has given a catchy name, "Mosaic Knitting," to a method of producing multi-color fabric without the tedium of stranding, Fair Isle or intarsia. All it requires is the ability to knit and slip stitches. In exactly 13 pages of clear, intelligently-written text (a Walker hallmark), she tells you everything you need to know, and takes you through the knitting of a little 8x16-stitch sample. That's it for instruction, and it's enough. After that, the books consists of page after page of mosaic stitch patterns, with a chart and a black-and-white photo for each. This new edition, for which we have Schoolhouse Press to thank, also includes a huge previously-unpublished collection of "Magic" mosaic patterns, so-called because of their 4-way symmetry. They alone are worth the price of admission. About those black-and-white photos. I have heard this book criticized for not showing the patterns in color and for not showing them in use, that is, as part sweaters or other garments. I like it the way it is. Walker allows knitter/readers to see the patterns in the abstract, without any distraction. With this book and a couple of the classic how-to-knit-a-sweater books (Knitting Without Tears, Knitting from the Top Down, The Knitting Workshop, Knitting in the Old Way), any competent knitter could happily make a lifetime's worth of original and beautiful hand-knits. Thanks again to Schoolhouse Press for making this new and improved version available. Now if somebody would only publish a new edition of June Hiatt's Principles of Knitting.

I consider myself an intermediate knitter; I was taught the basics at age eleven and since then have muddled thru a variety of projects, none particularly difficult. I have two failings; I hate knitting from charts and I can't learn from books (I am one of those people who pick up new techniques pretty quickly, but only if someone shows me how). Well, after reading "Mosaic Knitting," I sat down with eight skeins of thrift-shop mohair and knitted up a crewneck in a beautiful and complex-looking pattern. This is a great book and I can confidently say that no one should be afraid to attempt this technique. The results are spectacular and the actual knitting process is not at all difficult. I am now mulling the possibilities of a project using one solid and one variegated yarn to produce something that looks like Fair Isle (but with a lot less effort).

I am a self-taught left-handed knitter. I bought "Mosaic Knitting" when it first came out. It inspired me to knit a complex multi-colored and multi-patterned blanket. The charts are a revelation. No more twisted balls, or awkwardly holding multiple yarns - you can knit intricate multi-colored designs with only one color of yarn per row using simple slip-stitch patterns! In fact, based on the extensive information in this book, i began creating my own slip-stitch patterns. I hope this book is reprinted, as it is so much more complete than Roxana Bartlett's "Slip-Stitch Knitting: Color Pattern the Easy Way," which i found rather disappointing, compared to Barbara Walker's "Mosaic Knitting." EDIT: This book has been reprinted in a new edition by Meg Swanson's Schoolhouse Press - which has reprinted all of Barbara Walker's knitting pattern dictionaries - with the addition of 116 new "Magic Mosaics".

Two days ago my copy of Barbara Walker's "Mosaic Knitting" arrived. This was the revised edition and I had not seen the new "Magic Mosaics" chapter before. Already, I am knitting my second square from this book. To me, this is an inspiration, and I know many other top knitters have books penned by her because we see her patterns and segments of patterns turning up in design books by these knitters. To be honest, my husband (shock, horror!) photocopied most of the original "Mosaic Knitting" for me when I borrowed it from the library because I knew it to be out of print and hence unavailable here in Australia (what a backward lot we are!) so I am glad such exceptional works are now available. Truly, the Gutenberg Bible for the knitter!!!