Lending

An encyclopedia of knitting stitches to work into your patterns.

I have never had a comprehensive stitch dictionary, relying instead on an ancient and tattered Vogue Knitting Book given to me many years ago by an elderly aunt, and more recent guides from Nicky Epstein and Leslie Stanfield. Over the past year or two, I have read a number of rave reviews of Barbara Walker's 4-volume Treasury of Knitting Patterns, but I had never encountered the actual books.

On a recent trip to Powell's, I browsed the knitting section and found an entire cart filled with the latest printing of the Treasury, plus another book on mosaic knitting. Volume 2 was the thickest, and a quick browse convinced me that this volume had the greatest concentration of stitch patterns I would actually use. The others will have to wait.

The Second Treasury provides 700 stitch patterns, in the following categories: knit-purl combinations, slip-stitch patterns, slip-stitch color patterns, mosaic patterns, fancy color patterns, fancy texture patterns, twist-stitch patterns, cables, cable-stitch patterns, yarn-over patterns, eyelets, lace, lace panels and insertions, borders, and edgings. Photographs (mostly black and white) are provided for all patterns.

A few minor complaints - the cover is a bit flimsy for such a thick book, especially one that is intended to be actively used. I would have preferred a sturdy cover with coil binding, to allow for placing the pages flat on a scanner, so that patterns can be evaluated side by side for design purposes. The directions are all written in narrative form, which was common practice when this collection was first issued in the 1970s. However, modern knitters expect charts, and this volume should have been updated to provide them.

Finally, the photos have not been updated; they are small and mostly black and white. Fortunately a volunteer effort is underway at The Walker Treasury Project to provide larger color photos of swatches for the patterns in all of Walker's Treasuries. ( )

This is the 2nd volume of Barbara Walker's 4 volume reference library of knitting stitch patterns. Like the first volume, the stitch patterns are written out line by line, rather than charted. In this volume many of the patterns were contributed by readers of the first volume; contributors are noted on each pattern they provided. This is, in a sense, a wiki before wikis were formally defined. Walker indicates traditional historical patterns, and offers suggestions as to the type of garments best suited for a particular stitch.

Categories of stitches are: (1) knit-purl combinations; (2) slip-stitch patterns; (3) slip-stitch color patterns; (4) mosaic patterns; (5)fancy color patterns; (6)fancy texture patterns; (7) twist-stitch patterns; (8) cables; (9) cable-stitch patterns; (10) yarn-over patterns; (11) eyelets; (12) lace; (13) lace panels and insertions; (14) borders; (15) edgings.

Walker offers instructions on adapting the patterns to circular knitting, a stitch guide for adapting patterns to standard garmentsizes, and a few words of wisdom to us left-handers (or continental knitters) about not making things more complicated than they really are.

A photo accompanies every pattern; most are b&w, but this volume contains a few colored plates.

This volume is a timeless classic. ( )

Perfect second stitch library in Barbara Walker's foursome. ( )