This is a fun book by a cool young designer. It doesn’t really have extraordinarily original techniques, nor is it suitable for a beginner knitter (knitting a sweater with really big needles is actually very clunky, and best suited for an at least intermediate knitter).
With that said, this book is a refreshing perspective that encourages people to play with yarn and to embrace imperfection. Conventional knitting can sometimes frown on that, and sometimes I think the knitters on Instagram are in a constant infinite loop of show-offery with ever snobbier yarn and their three millionth top down yoke sweater. Laerke got a lot of followers on Instagram, deservedly, with her Alone Together Sweater (ATS) during the pandemic. I can get behind her approach - use all your scrap and crap yarn, forget the rules, tie knots and have fun. I have a lot of unloved sock yarn that’s now destined for a No Limits sweater.
Her reminiscences about design school really struck a chord with me, especially her struggles with drawing. I couldn’t draw for crap when I took the entrance test, and after five years of drawing practice in design school l still wasn’t particularly good at it. But thanks to the decision makers at the National Institute of Design, who saw a spark in me and let me into that marvelous place, I was able to walk in the footsteps of Eames. I still can’t draw, but all these decades I’ve been a successful designer at work and at play.
Laerke’s book took me back and reminded me l need to quit thinking of the MN State Fair knitting judges, and just play with yarn. Sometimes beauty comes out of ugly and success out of serendipity.