Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Sally Melville is my hero. A nice Armenian lady at my local "big box" craft store taught me to knit and pearl, but for my first year as a knitter, Sally taught me almost everything else, through "The Knit Stitch" and later "The Purl Stitch". No, I wasn't crazy about every patterns, but I could find something I liked in almost every chapter of her books. I had never seen such clear instructions and diagrams/photos in a learn-to-knit book. Sally's way of addressing the new knitter's frustrations is full of humor & empathy, and there were times that I thought she was psychic, the way she anticipated the kinds of headaches I'd encounter with a new technique, or where I'd get confused. I think Sally Melville really could be an important influence on the next generation of knitters, but maybe not under the continuing auspices of XRX. That's the publisher - you may know them as the folks behind Knitter's Magazine, lately excorated in various knitting circles for their pattern styles. I agree with the criticisms; you might not. But if you don't love "Knitters", you are not going to love the patterns in "Book 3: Color". For my tastes, it isn't *just* that they're 1980s retro - Vogue Knitting does retro all the time, sometimes to gorgeous effect - with updated details and fresh vision. Unfortunately, what others have pulled off doing retro, Ms. Melville in my opinion does not. The fish sweater is not adorable. Not unless you size it down for a six year old. Mrs. Doubtfire would reject the fairisle suit that "isn't" named for her as dull and - bizarrely - near monochromatic! (I think that other reviewers have mentioned this - considering the title, you'd expect a little more unrestrained celebration of color than we see in this book!) "Little squares" should be called "Bix Boxy" (as in giving the impression of huge shoulders and unnaturally shortened upper arms - don't even thing Alexis Carrington would have gone for that one) - and "Nod to Mod", while possessing a sort of impressionist beauty with its inspired use of variagated yarn, looks better suited for quilting or wall art than the top presented. Red, white, and black "squiggle intarsia" harkens back to Classic Elite patterns circa 1990, and I just don't know what to make of Ms. Melville's insistance on alternating loop-and-button closures - so that the first button is on the right, 2nd on the left, etc.) in virtually every garment with buttons. True, you can't please everybody - but as a vaguely fashion conscious 40something knitter, I don't think it's too cutting edge to suggest that Ms. Melville and her editors/advisors should have taken a look at what is turning up on the pages of was turning up on knitting websites, in Vogue (knitting or the fashion mag), Interweave Knits - or even in the local Target ads, when they started choosing projects back around - 2004? Not that what was current then wouldn't date somewhat over the course of book production, but you'd think a knitting writer of Melville's caliber might have been prescient enough to realize early on that the world wouldn't need one more shaggy dog's-breakfast-of-10-novelty-yarns poncho. What *is* fairly wearable to my eyes among these patterns (example: the "Skinny Stripes" pullover) lacks personality - it's knitwear you could find in any corner Gap, or any Leisure Arts pattern display, in the case of the Log Cabin quilt. As for the controversy over assymetry, I'd refer the curious to Teva Durham's "Loop-de-Loop" - the book has as many detractors as fans, but it does showcase excellent examples of assymetry done so as to look, well, deliberate. Please don't just misbutton my coat and tell me it's fashion! I hope that this incomparable teacher one day has her series redone under the guidance/advise of someone attuned to current fashion and detailing. There's so much clarity and wisdom in "The Knitting Experience Book 3: Color", and the author just isn't getting the pattern support that could make her work a classic in the knitting genre.