Vogue Stitchionary Volume One

I'm sure you've heard of the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume One: Knit & Purl: The Ultimate Stitch Dictionary but I'm not sure you've had a chance to get into any of them. I have three so I wanted to take the time and talk about what I like and don't like about the first book.

I love the presentation of these books. They make you want to pick them up and go through them. As a fairly new knitter I think it's always nice to have books that give you stitch options so you can create what you'd like. This book does that. It offers you several patterns using the knit and purl stitches to create beautiful materials. However, as a new knitter I am not familiar with what all the abbreviations mean, and an explaination or technique for the stitch is not always readily available in the glossary of the book.

A "dictionary" gives the "meaning" of a word as well as it's pronunciation and root. The assumption in reading the title of the books "Stitchionary" is that they will do the same for various stitches. In my opinion, they don't actually do as much as they could to help the knitter. They give you the word, but they fail to break down the elements which may leave any reader a bit frustrated.

I do find myself using the books, but I do have to consult the internet for the technique of some stitches. Generally, I find the books useful and they do trigger my creativity, however, if you are a complete novice, I would not recommend them until you've had some experience with abbreviations and and consulting other sources for the breakdown of the techniques.