The Tap-Dancing Lizard: 337 Fanciful Charts for the Adventurous Knitter

There are some hints and tips in this book, particularly for machine knitting, but this is essentially a book of charts. There are 5 sections of patterns in the book. "Past times and distant cultures" includes African designs, dragons from both Asian and European traditions, and other mythological designs from a variety of cultures. "In the wild" has realistic animal patterns as well as more mythological creatures. "Not so wild" is a collection of domestic plants and animals with a few buildings and boats tucked in. "The heavens" has sun, moon, and star designs, plus a neat set of angel wings. "At home" has a hodge-podge including flowers, Christmas designs, a map of Africa, a hedgehog, and some musical instruments. I have used several of these designs (including the tap-dancing lizard) in hand-knitting, with complete success. The charts are clear, there is a good variety of designs, and it makes a nice change from traditional color-work.

I bought the book, not because I had much interested in knitting, but because the illustrations--a collie lamenting that the beaded border on her sweater made it longer every time she wore it--were so much fun.Then one day I needed a show quilt. So I took the "little dragon" intended to be knit three times around a watch cap and made it into a seven-foot long monster. It was accepted into a juried show. I sent a slide to the authors, Roy wrote back that that was the kind of thing they hoped would happen with their book.

I don't knit at all, but I bought this book because the two-color charts are perfect for filet crochet. I've made several of the cat designs and they're really gorgeous! If you're into filet crochet, this is a wonderful book, although it purports to be for machine knitters.

This book features fantastic graphs of animals (wild and domestic-LOTS of cats and dogs), dragons and other fantasy creatures, and celestial and other patterns. It is written for hand and machine knitters but is also great if you are looking for patterns for filet crochet and crosstich projects.

I have made quite a few sweaters from the patterns in this book, both by hand and by machine. I have given most of them as gifts and the recipients are always impressed! The patterns in this book are much more suitable for chunky gauge knitting machines than in their next book (Enchanted Knitting). I highly recommend this book!