General Techniques Books

Basic Crochet and Knit
By Ondori Publishing Company

Ok, so the doll on the cover has to be one of the scariest covers for a craft book I have ever seen. Why on earth would they have that doll on the cover really confuses me. It is cute she is knitting, but there are so many other cute things that could have been used.

This book is amazing. One thing that has always confused me is how to read the charts and what do all the symbols mean for crochet and knitting. This book breaks it down to two columns. The first one is the symbol, the second column is three diagrams how to do the stitch. Simple, clear, and nicely illustrated. Pinku had read several good reviews about the title and I have to agree. It is a great resource for reading charts. She also recommended this site for helping read Japanese patterns. Thanks so much Pinku.

PS: If you have trouble finding it you might want to check either of these links:new - used

The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques
By Wiseman, Nancie M.

I found out about this book from Becky on Fluffa. There were several titles that she recommended to learn and apply techniques. This book is so nice and small it will easily fit in my knitting bag. A good general reference that is straight forward. I think we all want our projects to look neat and professional and be like Fluffa when we grow up. I still haven't finished reading the book, but I have already learned so much more than I knew before. Thanks Fluffa.

PS: If you have trouble finding it you might want to check either of these links:new - used

Vogue Knitting the Ultimate Knitting Book
By Cogue Knitting Magazine

I kept picking this book up at all the knitting shops and bookstores when ever I went in to fondle yarn. I just was really hesitant about picking it up. I rembered that my mom had an earlier version of the book when I was much younger and I didn't rember her using it that much. She usually used the readers digest one that I still can not find as a resource.

I used the help of other bloggers to help me to decide that I really did need this in my library. It is a excellent resource for techniques and overviews I must admit. The thing that I have found most useful is that all the info is in one place. The downside is that it won't fit in my knitting bag so it will be more work to just pull it out to look up something quick. We will see if I pull it out or just hop on the net to find the answer.
PS: If you have trouble finding it you might want to check either of these links:new - used