Sally Melville Styles: A Unique and Elegant Approach to Your Yarn Collection

This book will make you think about knitting and yarn in a different way. I keep returning to it and always come away with a new idea or plan. The ideas for combining different yarns, overdyeing, and how to make simple ideas timeless are well worth the price of this book. You immediately look at the stash in a different way, asking how you could make a collection of fibers into something unique with Sally's helpful ideas and advice.

Truely original designs and great use of multiple yarns. I have to confess to be a collector of yarns one ball at a time. This the perfect book for the adventurous knitter that wants to experiment with yarn. Not since Kaffe Fassett have I seen another truly inventive great teacher. Thank you Sally, you are appreciated, very much!

Of the dozen or so knitting books I've bought in the last two years, this is the book that I use the most. I'm knitting a second design and pondering several more. Still, even if you don't like the looks of the designs, this book is worth buying if you have a box or a closet or a room full of leftover yarn or yarn that just hasn't quite become a sweater. (Who us knitters, buy yarn just because? :))There are two huge reasons to have this book if you have yarn. First, Sally provides a very thoughtful chapter on how to organize your stash in a manner that will both stimulate your creativity while protecting your valuable stash. Secondly, she provides terrific instruction on using the color wheel to combine colors in a manner that doesn't just look like you threw a bunch of leftovers together. The designs are a bit boxy -- in part, I suspect, because of the complexity of the color work in most of the sweaters.This is not a book for beginners, but a fabulous resource of intermediate and advanced "fiberholics".

Melville has found a brand new technique, which is unusual in itself, since so much in knitting is just one designer copying ("adapting") another. I was glad to see someone daring to be unique. At first glance and at many glances later on, I have to say that her styles in this book are really beautiful -- and she incorporates many different techniques, many different designs, so there is bound to be something for everybody. She's also attentive to color by presenting sweater models in a variety of schemes, so those who like bright colors, or heathery colors, or earth tones will find something they like. The sweaters look fairly simple to knit, also, and if you are using color in the knitting, it is in a way that is not intricate. I have yet to try one of the woven looks, but it must be faster and simpler than intarsia or color stranding. The only disappointment is that these designs are not readily available as kits -- I'd like to make some of them identical to those in the book. The Mannings in Pennsylvania has a few of the designs kitted, but not the ones that I want. Melville presents a really nice collection of sweaters. This is one of the best knitting books on the market, comparable with Jo Sharp's new Knitting Bazaar as two of the most inspiring books I've ever owned. Hope to see much more from this author in the future.

This is a very exciting book! It is the only knitting book that I own that I would like to knit each and every sweater/vest shown. I have never taken a class from Sally Melville, but she has presented her designs in a very clear and understandable way. This book is a must have for any knitters library.