Knitting for Anarchists: The What, Why and How of Knitting

By Anna Zilboorg

Book Overview

Every knitter takes a different approach, and this revolutionary guide fosters experimentation and self-expression. Author Anna Zilboorg defies the notion of a one-size-fits-all teaching method, assuring readers that the techniques most comfortable and intuitive for individual knitters are always correct. Her explorations of the construction of knitted fabrics are founded upon the understanding that there are many different ways to produce the same satisfying result.
Offering advice rather than rules, Knitting for Anarchists promises to broaden the horizons of active knitters and to encourage beginners. Patterns for sweaters, pullovers, and cardigans include helpful photos, charts, and directions that serve not only as guidelines but also as springboards for unlimited variations.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486794660
• ISBN13: 9780486794662
• Release Date: March 2015
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

an enriching book...

If you are thinking about learning to knit or if you are a long-time knitter, Knitting for Anarchists is a wonderful read. I thought I understood knitting--after all, only 2 stitches--but, in this book, Anna Zilboorg, in her unique style, teaches her readers to think in the language of knitting. My knitting and my time spent knitting has been enriched by her influence. Love this book!

eye opening!

I only just picked up a copy of this book the other day, but already it's having a profound effect on the way I look at my knitting. It's not a pattern book, and it won't make you hip, but it will explain how knitting actually works, and how knitters can make that work for them. Zilboorg's book is a real eye opener, and equips those of us who do our stitches a little differently with the knowledge and ability to deflect purists, stitch nazis, and other fiber arts authoritarians when they tell us we're doing it wrong, and show them that our stitches are perfect regardless of whether we knit Continental or English, leading leg in front or back, or if we wrap clockwise or counterclockwise.

This is an important book

For several years I've been told by friends that I ought to lay hands on a copy of this book, before it goes out of print. When I finally found one and spent an evening reading it, I discovered why there is such a buzz about the book. Although you may be drawn to the colorful pages and designs (which are only a small part of the volume), what lies at the heart of this book are its sensible, clear, illuminating explanations of how those loops operate as they slide across your needles, leaning this way and that. Anna admits that it was not particularly appealing to her to so thoroughly describe the characteristics of stitches, but she seems to have dedicated herself to the task and succeeded very well. In fact, her explanations are really quite engaging, because they are so illuminating. Once you take the time to read through her pages, studying her illustrations, you will never again knit without understanding what your stitches are doing. Basically, Anna has taken the time to open her eyes to the movements of stitches, and articulated and illustrated it well enough for the rest of us to benefit from her examination. If this sounds hopelessly abstract, it isn't - it's liberating and right before you. Now that I've read the book myself, I have begun to recommend it in all the workshops I teach. It answers one question I hear several times every workshop, which is: "Why does this stitch lean the wrong way/what should I do about it?" This question will never mystify you again, and the concept of a wrong way will vanish. Cat Bordhi, author of Socks Soar on two Circular Needles, A Treasury of Magical Knitting, and A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting.