Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In the introduction the author states that not only will she give instructions she will explain the "why". I gave 3 cheers but my joy was short lived. It turns out that the promised explanation is nothing more than an opportunity to express her POV. She is mired in the knit separate pieces then sew together school. She gives short shrift to knitting in the round & writes that knitting a garment in one piece is more time consuming than seaming. I thought this was a reference book but she continually inserts her opinions instead of simply stating facts. She also organizes material in a nonsensical way. For example the most basic concept, if one is going to discuss the knit & purl stitches, is stitch mount. She seems to think that how one holds the yarn is most fundamental which makes the entire section needlessly complicated. Not only is the term "stitch mount" not mentioned she's invented a new adjective "turned stitches". Eastern Mount & Western Mount have been in common knitting parlance at least since Mary Thomas why she felt it necessary to invent a new descriptor is beyond me and one that implies an Eastern mount is somehow wrong. I've read about 100 pages. So far she's in love with being unnecessarily complicated. The more wordy the better. The KISS approach is foreign to this author. No wonder this book is about 700 pages. My Polish grandmother taught me to knit the "combined" method when I was 5. Years later when returning to knitting, with a child in the offing, I was told, in person & in print, that what I was doing was not correct. The correct way to knit was to throw the yarn with my right hand & those Eastern mounted stitches were wrong & I was purling the wrong way. This caused me untold anguish as I struggled to undue what muscle memory told me was the way to knit. This author reminds me of those knitting dictators--the bad old days. I've been sorely tempted to throw this book across the room only prevented by its heft & the probable damage to the furniture. I've given this book 2 stars based on the assumption that there's something in there that I don't know. Looking for a book on technique? Mary Thomas did it better in less words & at a fraction of the cost.