The Best of Interweave Knits: Our Favorite Designs from the First Ten Years

Interweave Knits is the knitting magazine I eagerly await each season for, without fail, I find a "must-knit" in its pages. Over the years, many well-known designers have had patterns featured in this popular magazine, although many young designers have found a place here as well. Interweave Knits is known for its innovative and appealing designs, offering challenging and wearable garments for advanced and beginning knitters alike. As Pam Allen, past editor-in-chief, explains in her introduction: "The best moments [in putting together the magazine], however, come when the contents of a submission envelope spill out and elicit a collective `Ahhh!' from the staff...For The Best of Interweave Knits: Our Favorite Designs from the First Ten Years, we've culled as many `Ahhh' projects from past issues as would fit into these pages." Over the years, many Interweave Knits designs have become as well-known as their creators, and this collection of 30 designs contain many of these: the Lotus Blossom Tank (Sharon Shoji); the Forest Path Stole (Faina Letoutchaia); and the Icarus Shawl (Miriam Felton). This leads to the obvious question: How many of the patterns featured here are your favorites? This collection includes four of mine, two already listed (Icarus Shawl and Forest Path Stole) and two others-Striped Fringe (Amanda Blair Brown), an ingeniously designed wrap of seven different colored stripes, and Cambridge Jacket (Ann Budd), the perfect zip-up weekend sweater. Sweaters in The Best of Interweave Knits range in finished chest sizes of 32.5" to 57.5", with the average range being 36" to 48". Scattered throughout the volume are "beyond the basics" sections that cover topics from cast-ons to blocking, pulling together great resources into one volume. Armchair Interview says: Find new personal favorites.

One of the reviewers said "timeless classics" and that is THE best review this book can get. Not a single ugly pattern in this book - all of them are timeless, beautiful and perfect. The Forest Path Stole is so beautiful I'd like to wear it on my wedding day (happily enough, seems I still have time to learn how to make it - it's terribly complicated). At first I was irritated by the "how to knit" sections between patterns, but when I read them it turned out they were detailed, far beyond basics and well worth reading and keeping at hand. I am not a subscriber of Interweave Knits (much though I would love to) so I haven't seen the patterns before. I don't understand people complaining the book is just a repetition of the magazines - title says it, doesn't it? To sum up: a beautiful books with beautiful patterns and great technical advice: what else could you want?