Reviewing a Bunch of Knitting Books

This post combines my two favorite things! Knitting and books. Some good ones, some bad ones, but first, my favorite:


Knits for Nerds: 30 Projects: Science Fiction, Comic Books, Fantasy by Toni Carr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVE THIS BOOK. I want to make EVERYTHING in it. It covers a wide range of geekdom and is the PERFECT knitting book for a geek like me. This book also has patterns that can be worn in general company without looking like cosplay, not that I don't love a good cosplay. The Aim to Misbehave Jacket would look great when hanging out with people who think Firefly is just a bug. And the Book Wizard bag could be appreciated by any muggle. The patterns range from super easy to incredibly-complicated-I-will-never-be-that-good-at-this. But either way, it's amazing! Highly suggest this collection of lovely patterns.

View all my reviews Knitted Sock Sensations: Over 40 Fabulous Looks for Feelgood Feet by Louise Butt


PERFECT. This collection has great directions, a huge variety of styles and takes the fear out of knitting socks! I had never made a pair of socks before and can now say I HAVE! And they’re beautiful! I highly suggest this book for any knitter, as some of the patterns are for more experienced knitters and quite a few are great for beginners. Lovely images, clear and concise patterns. An overall GREAT book.

View all my reviews One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant


This book has some cute, easy starter projects, but there isn’t really anything unique here. Everything in this book can be found on Pinterest or Ravelry. It was worth checking out of the library for ideas, and would make a great gift for a beginner knitter who is tired of making scarves or a teenage knitter who has a short attention span for projects, but I wouldn’t purchase this book for myself at this point.

View all my reviews Geek Knits: Over 30 Projects for Fantasy Fanatics, Science Fiction Fiends, and Knitting Nerds by Joan of Dark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Half of these patterns are lovely fun I can't wait to play with. Half of them I will likely never make in a million years, but if you're into that fandom they're probably perfect. Unlike "Knits for Nerds," this book doesn't have as many practical patterns, but more fun patterns. Which is great, if you're looking for that. The 20-sided die pattern is going to look great on my living room couch! Also, that Baker Street Hat, is amazing, and modeled by Neil Gaiman? Seriously, I want this knitter's connections! In fact, this book is worth reading just for the models. George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss? Great fun!

View all my reviews Cable Left, Cable Right: 94 Knitted Cables by Judith Durant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm currently learning to cable knit so I was really excited to get into this book. The patterns are great, but I'm not yet good at reading graphs, and some of the patterns only appear to have graphs to describe them. I am much better with abbreviations. Hopefully, though, I can still pick up a few of the tips in this book and use them in my crafts. I tried a few stitches out last night and they were great. Also, the pictures are really good. I've read a lot of knitting books that the pictures didn't show enough of the steps and I had to look the stitches up on YouTube. The images in this book were VERY helpful and well-done.

View all my reviews Cast On, Bind Off: 54 Step-by-Step Methods by Leslie Ann Bestor


I wish that this book had been better, because I really need some great cast on ideas (particularly stretchy ones) and this seemed like just the thing. The directions confused me and I couldn’t follow how to do the steps. The photos could have benefited from some arrow indicators or something, because it was incredibly hard to follow. If anyone knows of a better collection of cast ons and bind offs, please send it my way! I appear to be alone in this as this book has a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews, but I just couldn’t follow the directions in this book well.

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