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1000 Great Knitting Motifs

by Luise Roberts

Rating:  4 sheep (very good)

I've always had a weakness for stitch dictionaries. Just as I enjoy "reading" cookbooks, drooling over each delectable recipe, I find all those luscious stitch patterns intoxicating and filled with possibilities for my own knitting. Since most of my projects in the last twenty years have been created around a stitch pattern, I find myself owning almost a shelf of these books, including this recent offering by Luise Roberts.

It is organized in an ingenious manner into three groups: traditional stitch patterns, traditional pictorial motifs and modern pictorial motifs. Under the first heading we find patterns from many areas of the world, for example, Fair Isle, Western Europe, Asia and South America. The second group presents motifs from various cultures like Native American, Aztec, Celtic and African. The modern pictorial group includes topical elements such as animals, birds, floral, zodiac and toys. Throughout there is a great deal of help in choosing colors, positioning motifs in the garment and planning with stitch repeats, even how to turn a motif 90 degrees to change its orientation, i.e. from horizontal to vertical or vice versa.

Each section builds from small motifs to larger, an approach I find to be excellent for those attempting color work for the first time. What I especially like is that the author shows an abstract or geometric motif -- fair isle for example, in 3 or 4 different color combinations, showing how different the pattern looks and how the emphasis changes as a result of color choice. In this her book is somewhat unique and extremely helpful. Everywhere there are numerous choices of motifs for both horizontal and vertical borders, central medallions and all-over patterns. At the end she presents some essential color techniques. But the real pleasure to be found in the book is the gorgeous, joyous color. It would, in addition, be a practical addition to your library.

Respectfully submitted,

Virginia P.

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