Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I should have remembered that a master class, in many fields, means a seminar in which students learn the personal experience of one artist. This book is that kind of lesson. You'll learn what Ms. Newton does, her preferences and practices, what she thinks is important and not necessary. Her experience is particularly geared toward knitwear designers, and focuses a lot on swatching as a kind of three-dimensional sketchbook for details. But if you're hoping for advice on all your finishing challenges, and want to make your knitting projects as professional-looking as possible, this isn't the book you're looking for. Weaving in ends? There's one tip for weaving in very short ends. But ways to weave ends in invisibly on different surfaces and fibers, so the finished project looks its best? Nothing. Blocking? Newton roughly describes how she steam-blocks, but doesn't go into detail about ways to make the most of the technique on a variety of projects, or how best to block or wash different fibers. She mentions wet blocking, but since it's not her preferred method, she doesn't give instructions. She notes that blocking wires exist, but says she's never used them, so doesn't offer any help with them. She often says something must be done "carefully," but doesn't go into what kind of care she means or what to be sure you don't do, or what will happen if you do it badly. And you'll look in vain for tips on making button bands and collars lie smooth and even, or knitting a neat, flat hem, or sewing in pocket linings so they don't show--all of which seem like finishing essentials to me. This is also not a knitting pattern book. I didn't expect it to be, but it was a bit frustrating to find that many of the garments photographed to illustrated Newton's points were available...in other books and magazines for sale. The example patterns included in the book seemed perfunctory; I would rather have had that space filled with techniques and how-tos and step-by-step photos. I did find some of the information I was looking for when I bought this book: on verypink.com, where you'll find many good on-line videos of finishing techniques for free. But this book, which I'd been looking forward to buying for many months, turned out to be a disappointment.