Sweater Design in Plain English

By Maggie Righetti

Book Overview

Describes techniques for knitting sweaters, offers tips on selecting yarn, taking accurate body measurements, and choosing the best color and style for the wearer, and includes step-by-step instructions for thirteen sweaters.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312051646
• ISBN13: 9780312051648
• Release Date: October 1990
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.1" x 1.1" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Phenominal!

This book is amazing! I'm not even completely through the first section and I find that it's been well worth the money. Even if you never plan on designing your own sweaters this book is worth reading. The explanations of how the various factors such as body shape, 'standard' measurements and the drape of different yarn types affect the finished project will help anyone improve on the fit of even published patterns as well as improve your satisfaction with the final product. Buy it, you won't be disappointed!

Not just for would-be designers!

I checked this book out of the library since I am fascinated with the idea of designing my own sweaters. But this book offers much, much more. It teaches the basics of color, it tells what colors work for you and why. Then there is a section on figure types. What sweater designs flatter and which do not. And the chapter does not have just the usual hour glass, pear, top heavy distinctions, there's the rectangle, the triangle, the oval, the tiffany diamond.... It is almost garanteed the you will find your body type in the list.The first part alone is worth the price of the book but there are many other lessons to offer. As mentioned before, most of the sweater projects are not very stylish (though I did like the sweater designed to use up left over yarn) but the lessons offered are sound.As usual for Maggie Righetti's books, the writing style is chatty and fun filled with anecdotes and nuggets of wisdom that can only come from a veteran knitter.My only real complaint about this book is that it often refers to information found in the author's previous book Knitting in Plain English. I suggest buying both books. (You'll want the other one anyway after reading this book.)This book is a must for any knitter who wishes to design sweaters but it is also an excellant course in dressing well and in adjusting knitting patterns. Also, it is a good look at advanced knitting techniques. This book is hours worth of knitting lessons condensed in a convenient package. Worth every penny!

Excellent book to feed the creative spirit!

I am an intermediate knitter who has been stifling my own creativity by knitting from commercial patterns for years. I have no knitters in my family, and taught myself to knit from books and help from art teachers in junior high school. Maggie Righetti is the knitting grandmother I never had, and always wanted. She has a wonderful sense of humor and a no-nonsense attitude of playfulness that cuts through the mystery and fear associated with design. Her first chapters are about the psychological barriers that keep knitters from taking control of their own craft, and this good-natured lecture is truly inspiring. Then she talks about the design issues and challenges associated with designing for REAL bodies of all types. Her attitude toward the fact that many people are bigger than the commercial designers assume, and that proportions can differ from that standard, but can still be beautiful, is refreshing. It's even--dare I say it--feminist! Righetti tells us to choose yarn that inspires us, then knit swatches with a variety of stitches and patterns. The swatch is not just to check gauge, but to let the yarn "tell you what it wants to be." Some may find this silly, but it has helped me to let my creativity go, and I am now working with a beautiful, inspiring purple mohair that told me it wanted to be a short-sleeved evening sweater with simple lines. The yarn didn't want anything fancy to upstage it (as if that was possible). My only complaint with the book is that the practice sweaters given are not the most stylish, and as many design techniques are taught in the context of these sweaters, it can be difficult to find a technique you want to use if you don't go through each of the design projects in detail. I highly recommend this book, and plan to check out her other books.