Anna Zilboorg

Being a fan of Anna's work, I was most interested in this edition because it included her unique sock construction innovation. I found it fascinating. The mitten instructions this book are very clear and easy to follow. The socks, much less so. Anna's knitting theory with philosophy intertwined, priceless.

If you like knitting in the round or making small portable projects, this is an excellent book. I'm a beginning knitter - I had only been knitting 6 months and am completely self-taught - when I made several hats from this book, adapting head bands from one, body patterns from another, and shapes from a third, in my own colors. While there may be only nine basic shapes, the permutations are much greater than the 45 in the title.

I found the charts clear and helpful. I have heard that there show more were minor problems with some, but I haven't had any trouble deciphering them. Zilboorg gives clear directions for various types of beginnings and finishings. As a neophyte, I found them easy to follow.

Each hat took a couple evenings and was quite enjoyable to make. The shapes and colors are uplifting and fun to knit and to wear. I recommend this book to people who have admired my knit hats. And wearing one of them is a great way to brighten your day and keep you head warm at the same time. show less

In this book, Zilboorg teaches how to make beautiful mittens with long warm gauntlets. These are not hard to knit, and a nice item to learn new techniques. These reverse the standard method - cuff to tips, being knit from the fingertips to the cuff, rather like Turkish folk socks.

Zilboorg teached a variety of possibilities for significant parts of mittens. She includes detailed instructions for cast on techniques that are illustrated with both line drawings and photographs.

She teaches show more several different kinds of thumbs. First is the peasant thumb, which matches and blends into the patterns on the palm - she calls it "the invisible thumb". Second is a thumb that sticks out from the side of the mitten, which she calls "the sore thumb". Third is the more standard "gusseted thumb", which she includes in only a couple mittens.

And she includes several different finishing techniques for the cuff edges. The colors she uses are extravagant and exciting. She also makes pairs of mittens that don't match, but rather complement each other, using the same colors in different ways.

Zilboorg encourages experimentation. You can adapt any of the three thumbs to any of her mitten patterns, as you prefer. Use whatever colors suit your taste. And complete your mittens with or without gauntlet, and with any of the several finishing techniques and embellishments, among them knit picots and braided knitting.

I've made several pairs of mittens using the methods i learned from this book. And i return to it again and again for hints on techniques and inspiration. show less

I read somewhere that an amazing percentage of knitters not only knit their patterns exactly as written but use the colour shown in the pictures. this book is for them. Zilboorg does give some outlines for patterns, lots of luck duplicating the colours.

My rating is less than the average given this book but i did think very well of it. Ratings seem to me to be inflated, not enough mediocre books.