Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Knitters, traditionally women, share a genius for design and construction with architects and engineers, but these skills havent afforded them the kind of respect they deserve; theyve been considered little more than draftspeople who create basic patterns and a working model. Finally knitters are coming into their own.

No one who opens Knitting in America will mistake the knitters depicted here (many of whom also produce wool, spin, and dye) for anything other than artists. The sweaters are beautifully conceived and executed, and each looks wonderfully wearable.

From Library Journal

This book carries on the tradition of Ann L. Macdonalds No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting (Ballantine, 1988) in a somewhat more personal vein. Falick, herself a knitter, spent one-and-a-half years exploring studios, galleries, yarn shops, farms, festivals, and museums. In the process, she got to know a virtual "underground movement" of knitters for whom the craft is closer to a way of life than a simple pastime, including such luminaries as Meg Swansen, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Deborah Newton, Nancy Bush, and Norah Gaughan. Each was asked to create an original project for this book. Falicks interviews with these knitters are marvelous, the more than 30 projects interesting and challenging. The only caveat is the number of well-known knitters Falick had to leave out. Highly recommended for all collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Its no secret to knitters that all the best pattern books come from England, where knitting is more popular and enjoys more respect than it does here. But thats not to say there arent wonderful knitwear designers in the U.S., and Falick has done a marvelous job of finding and introducing them to readers. Each of the 38 biographical sketches (which include spinners, dyers, and breeders of fiber-producing animals as well as designers) tells how the subject became involved in the craft, discusses his or her approach, and offers reflections on the rewards of knitting. Handsomely and lavishly illustrated, this oversize book also provides patterns (from simple to advanced) as well as a resource guide. Ilene Cooper

From the Inside Flap

Author Melanie Falick traveled thousands of miles to create this inspiring and revealing portrait of knitters, spinners, dyers, and breeders of fiber-producing animals. With profiles of thirty-eight of this countrys most fascinating artisans and farmers, plus more than thrity patterns for adult and child-sized garments that were diesigned especially for the book, Knitting in America is the most complete survey yet published on this vital art form in America.

Featured are such well-known designers as Deborah Newton of Providence, Rhode Island, Meg Swansen of Pittsville, Wisconsin, Nicky Epstein of New York City, and Priscilla Gibson-Roberts of Cedaredge, Colorado. The book also includes special features on locations such as a musk-oxen farm in Montana, a school in Detroit where children learn to knit before they learn to read, and a New Mexico yarn shop that supplies many of this countrys top gallery artists with handspun, naturally dyed fibers. Rounding out the collection are profules of Barbara Walker and Mary Walker Phillips, grades dames whose contributions to the art and craft of knitting are, even now, echoed in the works of their younger followers.

The thirty-plus patterns in this book range in difficulty from basic to advanced and in style from traditional to contemporary. The patterns have been meticulously edited for clarity, and a complete list of mail-order sources is provided to ensure that the patterns can be executed to perfection.

MORE THAN 200 FULL-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS

30 ORIGINAL PATTERNS

From the Back Cover

Author Melanie Falick traveled thousands of miles to create this inspiring and revealing portrait of knitters, spinners, dyers, and breeders of fiber-producing animals. With profiles of thirty-eight of this countrys most fascinating artisans and farmers, plus more than thrity patterns for adult and child-sized garments that were diesigned especially for the book, Knitting in America is the most complete survey yet published on this vital art form in America.

Featured are such well-known designers as Deborah Newton of Providence, Rhode Island, Meg Swansen of Pittsville, Wisconsin, Nicky Epstein of New York City, and Priscilla Gibson-Roberts of Cedaredge, Colorado. The book also includes special features on locations such as a musk-oxen farm in Montana, a school in Detroit where children learn to knit before they learn to read, and a New Mexico yarn shop that supplies many of this countrys top gallery artists with handspun, naturally dyed fibers. Rounding out the collection are profules of Barbara Walker and Mary Walker Phillips, grades dames whose contributions to the art and craft of knitting are, even now, echoed in the works of their younger followers.

The thirty-plus patterns in this book range in difficulty from basic to advanced and in style from traditional to contemporary. The patterns have been meticulously edited for clarity, and a complete list of mail-order sources is provided to ensure that the patterns can be executed to perfection.

MORE THAN 200 FULL-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS

30 ORIGINAL PATTERNS

About the Author

Melanie Falick is a writer and editor with a passion for the textile arts and travel. Her writings on knitting and other subjects have appeared in Travel & Leisure, Vogue Knitting, Family Circle Knitting, Piecework, Knitters, Fiberarts, Rowan Knitting Magazine, and Bon Appétit. She is the co-author of Restaurant Lovers Companion.

Chris Hartlove shoots portraits, photographic essays, and landscapes for Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, The Washington Post Magazine, Details, and Outside, among other magazines. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Artisan; First Edition (January 10, 1996)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1885183279
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.75 x 1 x 12.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #133 in Knitting Patterns
- #2,469 in Knitting (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 35 ratings

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