The Art of Slip-Stitch Knitting | Book Blog Tour, Review + Giveaway!

The Art of Slip-Stitch Knitting: Techniques, Stitches, Projects

By Faina Goberstein and Simona Merchant-Dest

Interweave/F+W; $26.99

http://bit.ly/1Il5J9p

Welcome to my stop on the Faina Goberstein and Simona Merchant-Dest  blog tour for The Art of Slip Stitch Knitting. The blog tour kicked off September 16th and runs through November 21th. I’m thrilled to be a part of this tour and cannot tell you how I am excited for Faina and Simona!

This, very well and absolutely beautifully designed by Interweave book, has it all and covers all the basics of slip-stitch knitting, including stitch formation, reading charts, customizing stitch patterns, choosing yarns, designing with slip-stitch patterns, and more. In addition to 40 slip-stitch patterns, there are 16 lovely and easy-to-make projects not only beautifully done, but also amazingly eye opening and such inspirational.

Book starts with chapter All About Slip-Stitch Knitting—different ways of slipping stitches and what you do with the working yarn when you slip. And there’s information on horizontal, vertical, and diagonal slipping. Pretty much everything you could possibly need to know about slip-stitch knitting. And all following chapters cover different group of slip-stich patterns and begin with a dictionary of stitches followed by 4 patterns using this type of stitch. You can choose between written instructions or a chart to knit each stitch pattern.

Second chapter is Traditional Slip-Stitch Patterns contains simple color work and lovely patterns. My favorites are reengineering with color Svítání Pullover and Kromka Hoodie.

Third chapter (which totally blew me away!) features set of Woven slip stitches and again has a number of different stitch patterns and then some projects. I fell in love with the Gobelen bag,  which I not only want to make for myself, but I was already asked by a friend to make one for her. Made by using diagonal woven weaves slip-stitch pattern, this bag (as well as Volna scarf and Spiral hat) are simply gorgeous!

In the 4th chapter, Fancy Slip-Stitch, my favorites project is Nero Pullover. The sweater is worked in a classic top-down raglan construction with a carefully placed slip-stitch cable panel at center front and a slipped checks pattern on sleeves. It’s nicely fitted and is worked in a sport weight yarn.

And last chapter is Reversible Slip-Stitch. I love Fialka boot toppers, which look like made in pretty complicated “Fair Isle” technique, but there are worked in a pretty simple slip-stitch pattern that plays with the placement of stitches, how floats are carried, and colors are changed. It’s super easy to customize for your favorite color, too.

In the end of the book you will find a lot of useful information, including abbreviations and an illustrated glossary of techniques.

You can take a look at all 16 patterns on Ravelry.

Did you paid attention to the names of projects in the book?! “For the projects in this book, we chose Czech and Russian (our native languages) names that describe our inspiration for the design, color, construction elements, or other  aspects of the designs.”, – Faina and Simona explains. I love this idea!!

This is truly great and very unique book. Not only because this book have 16 fresh and pure eye-candy patterns but I never saw such fantastic and interesting stitch dictionary with endless possibilities of using slip-stitches in new fresh and modern way. Especially I was amazed with the section on reengineering the stitch patterns and how one simple change, whether it is adding of a third color or changing of the location of your floats, results in a dramatic, enchanting change.

“We are very excited to share with you our findings of what slip stitch can do: its beauty, its endless possibilities, and the great versatility it offers. We’re looking forward to seeing your variations of the slip-stitch patterns in your projects.” —Faina Goberstein and Simona Merchant-Dest

And last, but not least… we have a GIVEAWAY for you! One lucky in the world will receive a copy of this gorgeous book. U.S.-based with a valid street address (vs. P.O. Box address) will receive a paperback copy. Otherwise all others are eligible for a PDF copy of the book.

TO ENTER

Simply leave a comment on this blog post and let us know which design from The Art of Slip-Stitch Knitting you like the most!

TERMS

• This giveaway starts today, October 9th and will end Sunday, October 18th 2015 at 11:59pm PST.
• The winner will be selected with random.org’s random number generator and notified by email on Monday, October 19th.

And below is full The Art of Slip-Stitch Knitting Book Blog Tour Schedule:

9/16/15 Wendy Knits

9/28/15 Tanis Knits

9/29/15 Yarn Thing Podcast

9/30/15 HZoppetti Designs

9/30/15 Planet Purl

9/30/15 WEBS blog

10/6/15 SweetGeorgia Yarns, Inc.

10/7/15 Never Not Knitting Podcast

10/8/15 Yarn Yenta

10/9/15 My Little City Girl

10/15/15 Knit More Girls Podcast

10/15/15 Bay Area Knitter

11/15/15 Sheep to Shawl

11/21/15 Ready, Set, Knit! (WEBS Podcast)

Happy Friday and terrific weekend everyone!