My Favorite Reference Book

*** baby news- no real news yet. I'm 40 wks & 4 days today, 3 cm dilated, and no contractions whatsoever, baby seems quite content to grow to toddler size before venturing outside the womb...

In my previous post, I mentioned glancing at a reference book before tackling a specific type of seam. I received the comment "I would love to know what reference book you are using, I have some seams I will have to sew together and I am not sure how to do it. I have "Visually Knitting" and has helped some but I would like to do it better next sweater project I do." I thought I'd chime in with a post about my favorite little book.

I say little, because it is. Lightweight and portable (a spiral bound paperback), my Vogue Knitting Quick Reference is usually in my knitting bag, just in case. There is a bigger (and consequently heavier) hardcover Vogue reference book as well. It's a good book, with loads of good content, and pretty good pictures, but it's big, it's heavy, and it costs twice as much.

As a newer knitter, this book was turned to at one point or another in nearly all of my first projects. I'm a self-taught knitter, and after my first few lessons with Debbie Bliss' How To Knit, this handy little book became my knitting coach.

As a more seasoned knitter, I still turn to this book often. I bring it with me whenever I meet up with other knitters, as question or two will inevitably arise from a newbie knitter, and it often helps to show them a nicely worded description and diagram, in addition to attempting to show them myself. You see, it's not just 'ali says'- Vogue says it too... haha! But I don't just carry it for benevolent reasons. I do, periodically, need a reminder or refresher on a technique I haven't used in a while- like seaming in garter stitch stripes, grafting with various stitches, or working a buttonhole other than my usual.

There it is, in a nutshell, why the handy little Vogue Knitting Quick Reference is my favorite knitting reference book, and why I recommend it to every new knitter I meet.

If you don't have one- get one!

(bonus points if you can name that movie reference!)

If you've got another favorite, which one is it? I'm always looking for good recommendations.

Well, I'm off to my son's last home soccer game of the season (wasn't it kind of baby to wait to be born, so I could be there?) I can't decide what knitting to bring today, but I don't think it should be my Mystery Sock- charts need paying attention to...

Happy knitting-
ali