There are many books on our bookshelf that would be of great value to our customers. Some are knitting books and others are general business books that we have found helpful.
The Treasury of Knitting Pattern series written in the late 1960’s by famed knitter Barbara Walker are commonly referred to as the Bible of stitch dictionaries. Within the pages of these books are instructions for thousands of pattern stitches, cables, borders, edgings, and even color-work charts for stranded knitting. The entire series will cost between $100 and $120 dollars.
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker
A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker |
Another recommend book by Barbara Walker is Knitting from the Top. In it Walker gives detailed construction guidelines for many top-down garments including sweaters, ponchos and even skirts. If you are unfamiliar with seamless construction this book does a great job explaining how to design raglan and set-in sleeves as well as saddle shoulders and set-in sleeves. |
If you are interested in stranded or color-work knitting Sheila McGregor has written two excellent books on the subject, Traditional Scandinavian Knitting and Traditional Fair Isle Knitting. Traditional Scandinavian Knitting explores the history and techniques of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. Traditional Fair Isle Knitting details the history and knitting techniques from the Shetland Islands of Scotland. Each of these books contains collections of classic patterns for traditional sweaters, gloves, mittens, stockings and caps. Also included are loads of traditional color-work charts that can be mixed and matched to create original designs. |
While The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing by Kathleen Fasanella focus is on cut and sewn products the lessons she gives in her no-nonesense approach to the apparel industry ring true in the development and marketing of knitted garments. Fasanella, a pattern-maker by trade gives step-by-step details on everything from sourcing, line development, working with contractors (like Fair Trade Knitters!) and marketing.
Included in the price of the book is membership to her active forums where you can chat with fellow design entrerepuners. I also recommend her blog Fashion Incubator which is loaded with helpful information.