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Simple Knitting: A Complete How-to-Knit Workshop with 20 Projects
Simple Knitting is a unique workshop-based, how-to-knit gift book that will teach you the key techniques while creating an enviable collection of knitted items.
Each of the 20 projects in the book teaches a new skill, as well as building upon and consolidating those knitting techniques already learned through preceding projects. With a series of workshop-style masterclasses Erika Knight explains all the essential information--from achieving a perfect tension and substituting yarns or stitch textures, to more advanced cables and shaping--alongside broader design principles, such as building a color palette.
Providing a unique opportunity to learn the design secrets of one of the world's most highly-respected knitwear designers, Erika shares her special tricks of the trade within this book. Erika's signature style, for which she has become renowned worldwide, is her sophisticated simplicity. Simple Knitting is the embodiment of that elegant reductivism. Her designs prove that you can make wonderful, original items for your home and yourself--as well as gifts for family and friends--at the same time as mastering a repertoire of skills. Likewise, her preference for a refined natural palette of earthy shades with the odd highlight hue is perfectly in tune with the current mood for relaxed, homely interiors.
With inspiring photography by Yuki Sugiura that showcases each of the beautiful designs, supported with clear charts and artwork, Simple Knitting is the ultimate learn-to-knit book.
Each of the 20 projects in the book teaches a new skill, as well as building upon and consolidating those knitting techniques already learned through preceding projects. With a series of workshop-style masterclasses Erika Knight explains all the essential information--from achieving a perfect tension and substituting yarns or stitch textures, to more advanced cables and shaping--alongside broader design principles, such as building a color palette.
Providing a unique opportunity to learn the design secrets of one of the world's most highly-respected knitwear designers, Erika shares her special tricks of the trade within this book. Erika's signature style, for which she has become renowned worldwide, is her sophisticated simplicity. Simple Knitting is the embodiment of that elegant reductivism. Her designs prove that you can make wonderful, original items for your home and yourself--as well as gifts for family and friends--at the same time as mastering a repertoire of skills. Likewise, her preference for a refined natural palette of earthy shades with the odd highlight hue is perfectly in tune with the current mood for relaxed, homely interiors.
With inspiring photography by Yuki Sugiura that showcases each of the beautiful designs, supported with clear charts and artwork, Simple Knitting is the ultimate learn-to-knit book.
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 11, 2010
7 people are currently reading
697 people want to read
About the author
Erika Knight
65 books46 followersKeep it simple, chic and contemporary! So says Erika, textile designer and fashion design consultant, whose trademark has been the traditional with a twist. Coming into knitting via fine art training, she is highly regarded in her field and works for many international companies designing ready-to-wear ranges. Author of Comforts of Home (Martingale), her latest book is Simple Knits for Cherished Babies (Collins & Brown).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
March 4, 2017
I've read a lot of introductory knitting books in the last couple of years, as I was teaching myself how to knit apart from early (ghastly) experiments under my Nonna's supervision. The biggest challenge for intro volumes is that, while the text and illustrations may be well done, the projects themselves can date very quickly. (For example, Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook, which is a great intro to knitting, but who wants to make an iPod cover anymore?)
"Simple Knitting" is a book I'd confidently put into the hands of any novice. The projects are timeless, well directed, and offer a reasonable scale of difficulty for a newbie. The photos are beautiful, the illustrations are very well done, and in keeping the projects simple and clean, it's unlikely to date itself within ten years.
I'd do any of the projects in here (though there's too many pillows for my preference), and I particularly like the basic sock patterns, for both 2- and 4-needles. It's a great, gentle introduction to cabling as well, particularly nice because it looks so attractive and you feel very accomplished in that detail. There's a small Fair Isle project too, which is the perfect introduction to stitch patterns without being indomitable, like a sweater.
All in all, I'm very impressed with this text. My Nonna would approve.
"Simple Knitting" is a book I'd confidently put into the hands of any novice. The projects are timeless, well directed, and offer a reasonable scale of difficulty for a newbie. The photos are beautiful, the illustrations are very well done, and in keeping the projects simple and clean, it's unlikely to date itself within ten years.
I'd do any of the projects in here (though there's too many pillows for my preference), and I particularly like the basic sock patterns, for both 2- and 4-needles. It's a great, gentle introduction to cabling as well, particularly nice because it looks so attractive and you feel very accomplished in that detail. There's a small Fair Isle project too, which is the perfect introduction to stitch patterns without being indomitable, like a sweater.
All in all, I'm very impressed with this text. My Nonna would approve.
January 21, 2013
I don't remember much about patterns from this book...but as I noted in my reading progress, this was the book that helped me figure out that I'd been knitting wrong for 4-5 months. :\ (I'd been knitting into the back of the stitch, FWIW.) And I learned something about what sort of pictures I can actually learn knitting techniques from. That's worth it, even if that's all I got.
April 9, 2023
(Mostly a duplicate from my review of Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Easy Living.) I love and appreciate Erika Knight's aesthetic and think her books are lovely. But after you get past an intermediate (or intrepid beginner) level of knitting, you find that these patterns are something that you could (easily) figure out on your own. The photography is beautiful, though some pieces need more photos. The projects are simple and classic. There is a section on tools, techniques, and a brief stitch library. My favorite project is the penultimate one, Woman's V-neck Sweater, also shown on the cover. It is classic and beautiful but in need of more than one photo! This is something I will DEFINITELY knit up, though it will be cropped, colorful, and textured with some sort of stitch pattern to be determined. Wonderful book for beginners.
December 11, 2018
Once a knitter has learned and well understood the simple instructions for knitting, this book can then guide them from a beginner’s standpoint to that of an accomplished hat, scarf, and sweater maker. A great book for beginners who are wanting to jump into the deep end but with floaties on. Very simple instructions yet very educational.
December 27, 2019
I’ve looked at a lot of knitting books that review yarn types and then take you through basic patterns for stitching techniques, and this is by far the most user friendly, and the clearest. Also, the images and the style of the book just make you want to knit. I got this out of the library, but now I’m going to buy it as part of my reference library.
January 27, 2018
A very good beginner book. Nice illustrations and beginner's stitch library.
March 14, 2020
I read this as a complete beginner to learn how to knit. I think this is a good resource for beginners to learn the basic stitches, with some supplementing from YouTube, and see examples (beautiful photos of stitch swatches) but I ran into issues when I began on the projects. The first project is a very simple scarf knitted on very small needles. It’s a very monotonous and tedious project, which I soon realized was not good for beginners at all. I skipped ahead to the fifth project, a simple hat, and am finding this to be a much better beginner project. I’m learning a lot but moving fast enough through the project to not get bored - it’s made me excited to knit.
To summarize, it’s a pretty and informative book but I think I would go crazy trying to do the projects in the order that the author intended the reader to work through them.
Also note that the author is British. As an American, I had a little trouble translating yarn, needle and guage sizes but my local yarn store was able to help.
To summarize, it’s a pretty and informative book but I think I would go crazy trying to do the projects in the order that the author intended the reader to work through them.
Also note that the author is British. As an American, I had a little trouble translating yarn, needle and guage sizes but my local yarn store was able to help.
July 17, 2014
Simple Knitting: A Complete How-To Knit Workshop with 20 Projects by Ericka Knight covers everything that a beginning knitter needs to know. I would have loved to have had this book when I was just starting. The illustrations of how to do knit and purl make it so almost anyone could figure it out. She covers the differences between different yarns and I agree with her bamboo needles are the best. Bamboo has a comfortable feel to it.
Her stitch gallery highlights each of the basic stitches with notes on how to do them. There is a reference and a terminology chart to refer to if you have forgotten something. I love the trouble shooting section. Just knowing that there are solutions will help a beginner to maintain interest in learning how to knit. She rates the projects by level of difficulty. When you are starting out you don’t necessarily know what would require more learned skills. Some of the projects in the back are too advanced, like a cardigan. I think would prefer another category like advanced for sweaters.
Overall, the only thing that I don’t like about this book is the lack of brighter and more energetic colors. This book would more enticing with more color. A lot of sepia tones, browns and creams are used in this book.
This is a great book for any beginner knitter’s library. It would be a great gift for someone who is thinking about starting to knit.
I received this book from FirstReads but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in this review.
Her stitch gallery highlights each of the basic stitches with notes on how to do them. There is a reference and a terminology chart to refer to if you have forgotten something. I love the trouble shooting section. Just knowing that there are solutions will help a beginner to maintain interest in learning how to knit. She rates the projects by level of difficulty. When you are starting out you don’t necessarily know what would require more learned skills. Some of the projects in the back are too advanced, like a cardigan. I think would prefer another category like advanced for sweaters.
Overall, the only thing that I don’t like about this book is the lack of brighter and more energetic colors. This book would more enticing with more color. A lot of sepia tones, browns and creams are used in this book.
This is a great book for any beginner knitter’s library. It would be a great gift for someone who is thinking about starting to knit.
I received this book from FirstReads but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in this review.
February 17, 2015
*I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads Giveaways*
When I found out I was getting a copy of this book I was super excited. I had wanted to knit, but learning without anyone to correct me is difficult. This book has been very helpful. The pictures aren't too helpful on their own, but are more helpful when supplemented with videos from YouTube. It was much easier to understand what was happening in the videos when the descriptions and diagrams were there to clarify. I absolutely adore all of the information available, because any time I tried to look up patterns I was confused by all of the abbreviations and terminology. I'm sure that this information is all over the web, but having it in the beginning has helped me significantly. The patterns are pretty cool and I can't wait to try all of them. I HIGHLY recommend this for any beginner like me that knows next to nothing, it's wonderful at guiding you into the world of knitting.
When I found out I was getting a copy of this book I was super excited. I had wanted to knit, but learning without anyone to correct me is difficult. This book has been very helpful. The pictures aren't too helpful on their own, but are more helpful when supplemented with videos from YouTube. It was much easier to understand what was happening in the videos when the descriptions and diagrams were there to clarify. I absolutely adore all of the information available, because any time I tried to look up patterns I was confused by all of the abbreviations and terminology. I'm sure that this information is all over the web, but having it in the beginning has helped me significantly. The patterns are pretty cool and I can't wait to try all of them. I HIGHLY recommend this for any beginner like me that knows next to nothing, it's wonderful at guiding you into the world of knitting.
April 30, 2014
Great book for a beginner it takes you through 20 projects and adds a new technique as it goes on, puts them in categories such as basic, stripes, shaping, colorwork, fully fashioned shaping. Found the following sections very helpful; materials and techniques, explained along with pictures the different yarns and choosing them, author used drawings to demonstrate the techniques which I found easy to understand instead of pictures; stitch library author has nice large pictures of each; and recommened yarns. Very simple approach to teaching knitting, the pictures are beautiful. Basic project seen in other books such as muffler (scarf), dishcloth, pillows, mittens, hats; more intersting projects such as notebook, shopper (bag), two-needle sock, four needle-sock, cable scarf, pincushion, teapot cozy, sweater and cardigan. Currently working through the whole book.
March 6, 2011
I've read a few how to knit books over the years, none of them have succeeded in teaching me what I needed to know but this looks like it might (finally!) do the trick.
There is a very easy to follow, clearly illustrated list of stitches. The secrets of yarn weight, stitch and style, how to interpret the mysterious knitting pattern and the differences of knitting using wool, linen and silk, is all explained in the easiest-to-understand terms.
Simply explained and beautifully presented with a pared-down, minimalist appearance, this is the most attractive and easy-to-follow book on the subject I’ve seen.
There is a very easy to follow, clearly illustrated list of stitches. The secrets of yarn weight, stitch and style, how to interpret the mysterious knitting pattern and the differences of knitting using wool, linen and silk, is all explained in the easiest-to-understand terms.
Simply explained and beautifully presented with a pared-down, minimalist appearance, this is the most attractive and easy-to-follow book on the subject I’ve seen.
November 22, 2014
I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Goodreads First Read program.
This a great knitting reference book. The photographs and drawings are very clear and help to illustrate the various stitches and techniques. It has one of the best explanations of knitting gauge and how to measure a swatch as well why a gauge swatch is important. The section on choosing yarns and colors is very helpful as you move forward with knitting skills to begin to design your own projects and patterns. I would highly recommend adding this book to your collection for either beginner or advanced knitter.
This a great knitting reference book. The photographs and drawings are very clear and help to illustrate the various stitches and techniques. It has one of the best explanations of knitting gauge and how to measure a swatch as well why a gauge swatch is important. The section on choosing yarns and colors is very helpful as you move forward with knitting skills to begin to design your own projects and patterns. I would highly recommend adding this book to your collection for either beginner or advanced knitter.
February 24, 2024
This book was an end-of the-school year gift from one of the families, whose student was in my homeroom class. I taught 2nd and first grades during most of my teaching career. I also taught crochet and knitting classes after school. Erika Knight has presented all the details you need to begin to knit and she has included 20 projects to perfect your knitting skills. The author also includes a Masterclass notes, so that your project will turn out "just right". The projects go from dishcloths to pillows to fingerless mitts to sweaters. There is also some Fair Isle knitting at the end. The projects are also rated from easy to experienced. Happy Knitting!!
October 21, 2014
I received this book as part of the Goodreads’ First Reads Program for a fair review.
Overview: Ms. Knight is sharing her tips of the trade with us. As well as a few projects that clearly illustrate those tips.
Likes: It’s surprising how many tricks you can learn in twenty patterns. We even get pictures of each stitch style.
Conclusion: Most beginning knitters ought to learn much from this book. Even the more advanced might find a tip that makes the knitting process even more of an enjoyment. Like how to reuse knitted yarn. I think I’ll start with the Two Needle Socks first.
Overview: Ms. Knight is sharing her tips of the trade with us. As well as a few projects that clearly illustrate those tips.
Likes: It’s surprising how many tricks you can learn in twenty patterns. We even get pictures of each stitch style.
Conclusion: Most beginning knitters ought to learn much from this book. Even the more advanced might find a tip that makes the knitting process even more of an enjoyment. Like how to reuse knitted yarn. I think I’ll start with the Two Needle Socks first.
December 28, 2016
There are some lovely patterns in this book and everything does seem simple when you first read through the instructions, however having struggled with the mitten pattern I was a bit annoyed. After all this is supposed to be a book for beginners but I really had to think things thorough and add information to make the pattern work. I did get there in the end with a huge amount of patience but it really wasn't a step by step guide. The two needle socks was a lot easier and the masterclass sections do help with the added bit of information to help new knitters.
July 20, 2011
Very good explanation of types of yarn, basic knitting stitches, measuring a gauge. Also gives nice photos of sample stitches, for example, different types of rib stitches. It has 20 projects of varying abilities, easy to experienced, however, none that I was particularly interested in. It had a muffler, a pillow, socks, a sweater, among other projects. Project 9- the rag bag was cute, made from strips of shirting fabric or other fabric which gave it more texture than the usual yarn.
February 29, 2016
I learned the basics of how to knit a few years ago but only ever completed one project (a scarf of course). This book is perfect for my level to help give me some more ideas without being crazy intricate designs that I have no chance of ever finishing.
The 20 designs are split up by level, I have picked one of the basic designs (a shopper) and hopefully will be able to complete it soon, so far so good.
*I received this book through the Goodreads First Reads program.
The 20 designs are split up by level, I have picked one of the basic designs (a shopper) and hopefully will be able to complete it soon, so far so good.
*I received this book through the Goodreads First Reads program.
November 28, 2014
This is a great book for getting started as a knitter! As a newbie, I have a hard time reading patterns and copying stitches from print (thank you, YouTube!) but this book breaks them down in a way I *think* I can follow successfully. I'm planning to work through several of these projects--and it's so nice to have actual simple stitch projects and not just "this is how you do it, have at it yourself"--before I go back out on my own. I mean, one can only make so many ear warmers and scarves!
July 12, 2014
I received this book from a giveaway and I am very excited to have it. There are 20 projects that I cannot wait to try. There are also many different stitches and other helpful information for knitters. This book is very helpful in explaining the concepts through words and pictures. There are projects for beginners and experts, and it helps you develop your skills. I am so happy to have it.
October 31, 2014
I received this book through Goodreads First Reads and I was particularly impatient to receive it because I love to knit. I wasn't disappointed, I liked the different projects that were in it and I also liked that she showed how to do the different types of patterns. I will definitely be using this book a lot.
July 14, 2014
Received as a 'first read'. This is a beautiful book that would be very helpful for any beginning knitter. I have another beginners book, but I like this one much better. The pictures are very helpful and I love the swatch examples of different stitches. I'm not totally in love with the projects though. I think there are cuter patterns out there for beginners.
July 29, 2014
I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Goodreads First Read program.
This knitting manual is beautifully arranged with color photos and easy to follow patterns. The guide provides tips and tricks for beginners and advanced techniques. A very nice first knitting project book for the beginning knitter.
This knitting manual is beautifully arranged with color photos and easy to follow patterns. The guide provides tips and tricks for beginners and advanced techniques. A very nice first knitting project book for the beginning knitter.
May 14, 2010
An entry level knitting book, raised above the ordinary by its beautiful pared down styling and Japanese influenced aesthetic.
My favourite element is the stitch library, which illustrates the texture of 24 stitch patterns in a clearly photographed swatch.
My favourite element is the stitch library, which illustrates the texture of 24 stitch patterns in a clearly photographed swatch.
May 18, 2012
This book has some awesome projects and even better directions. Erika has made 4x4 swatches of the most popular knit stitch techniques and photographed them with simple directions. For the visual learner this is a huge help!
August 14, 2014
I love this book it's very well made, the quality of the images and the paper itself are wonderful. It's very good for someone that is learning to knit as its very descriptive and explain things clearly. Definitely one I would buy.
April 6, 2015
Simple Knitting is a great book to get started with knitting or pick it back up. Instructions and guides are clear and include a variety of stitches and techniques for the more experienced knitter to try. The projects are creative and unique. I'm looking forward to making a number of them.
November 23, 2014
This book was given to me as a birthday present with a challenge to start at the front and work my way through the 20 projects to improve my knitting. I took the challenge but have to get a project done before I can start.
December 17, 2015
*I received this book from a Goodreads Giveaway*
A well put together knitting book with a lot of creative knitting patterns to learn! It's also a great looking book that makes for a good piece in my 'coffee table book stack'.
A well put together knitting book with a lot of creative knitting patterns to learn! It's also a great looking book that makes for a good piece in my 'coffee table book stack'.
March 14, 2017
I borrowed this from the library as a knitting review, since I haven't knitted in years. It's a good book, I believe it would be great for a beginner.
February 17, 2013
The swedish edition is called: "Sticka stilrent och rustikt : en stickhandbok med 20 härliga projekt"
Very detailed explanations and I can't wait to start my own small projects :D
Very detailed explanations and I can't wait to start my own small projects :D
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews