My favourite knitting reference books

Ages ago I wrote a post about knitting books for beginners. In it I reviewed (quite negatively) the most well-known books written for the absolute beginner. I have just read it again and I was a bit shocked by how nasty I was. I must have been having a really bad day. Although, I must admit that I haven't changed my mind, that nothing that I wrote then is not still my opinion, I could have put it less bluntly.

Still there was a reason I was so angry after reading those books. They really are a waste of time. If you are thinking about learning to knit, learn the very basic from videos and then buy a good reference book (that is what this post is all about). Here are a few posts I wrote while I was learning and that are still, in my humble opinion, really useful if you want to learn to knit: how to choose yarn and needles that are appropriate for learning, the videos I used to learn the basic stitches (I'm sure there are much better videos out there, but these ones are good enough), this post has great advice for your first project, if I may say so without sounding conceited, and I still think this is the best advice you'll ever get.

So, to conclude, no books for beginners, even if you are one, buy yourself a good reference book instead. Here is a list of good reference books I either own and have borrowed from my local library. The good news is that they also include instructions for the absolute beginners in the first chapters.

General reference books

Vogue Knitting

I think this is the most popular book of all reference books. I own a copy that I never use. I really cannot recommend it. I already wrote a review with my reasons not to like it.

The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt

I absolutely love this book. I trust it immensely and highly recommend it. Its instructions are not only reliable, they are so well written than I often find it is easier to follow them than a video tutorial. It also is the most complete reference book I know. You must buy this book if you're the kind of ambitious knitter who wants to know everything there is to know about knitting. I have also wrote a review about it.

Knitter's Handbook by Montse Stanley

This book is not as complete as the The Principles of Knitting, but it is also very complete with very clear and easy to follow instructions. I use this book a lot, as it is more compact and brief, so it can be easier to find what I am looking for. The illustrations are also very good. If you are not as ambitious as to want to know everything, and you just want to have a book that includes everything you really need to know and a bit more, this may be a better reference book than the above. It is definitely a lot better and more complete than Vogue Knitting, with plenty of techniques and brief explanations of which ones are better for different purposes. It also is a very cheap book (especially if you buy it 2nd-hand like I did), so there is no reason not to buy it.

Another reference book

The Knowledgeable Knitter by Margaret Radcliffe

This is not a general reference book like those above, but a book that has an incredible amount of advice for the intermediate or even the advanced knitter who would like to improve his/her projects. It has advice on, for example, choosing the right yarn for a pattern or vice-versa, how to modify a pattern if you'd like to improve your results (including tons of techniques that can improve your projects and often are not included in patterns for simplicity), how to convert flat to circular, or bottom-up to top-down, and vice-versa, how to design your own patterns, etc.