Marianne Kinzel

I’ve made the cover doily, “Coronet”, twice and the Rose Leaf curtains once. I’m barely started with the book, really. It’s not a compendium of modern lace knitting, or even mid-century lace knitting. It’s a 1954 collection of one designer’s work: doilies, curtains, and tablecloths. The modernity comes in with the designer’s use of techniques that were up-to-date for the time, which she thoroughly explains and illustrates, and especially with her then-innovative use of show more graphs, which were not in general use until about 1970.

It should be noted that she uses British sizes for knitting needles and British crochet terminology, so her double crochet stitch is an American single crochet. show less

Still in print this is a comprehensive look at lace knitting, it's an interesting one. I've thought about lace knitting before and this one goes through how to start and how to finish a lace knitted piece. Most of the patterns are for knitted table-cloths or runners but there are a few other pieces in there as well. With a good knitting dictionary you could adapt things for another piece. The stoles incorporated in the book are fairly simple, so I would guess they would be good beginner lace show more knitting pieces.

I haven't stitched any of these so I'm not sure about the patterns but they are interesting and did make me want to reach for my needles so that's a winner. It's strangely rare, even though it is published by Dover (and available from their website along with the First book of Modern Lace Knitting, and on my wishlist).

If you're looking for a fairly cheap book on lace knitting and particularly if you're looking to knit table-cloths this is a good one. Interesting patterns but simple enough for someone with some experience looking to expand their horizons.

The pictures could do with some updating, they're a bit dark show less

The patterns in this book are astoundingly lovely. However, I was hoping for more fundamental information on how lace works and how to design one's own lace patterns. This book doesn't serve that purpose well, though it is certainly worth looking at -- and owning, since it is quite inexpensive.

The first and second books of Modern Lace Knitting are beautiful. The lace intricate and beautiful. Most of the patterns are for doilies or other decorative accents, but they can - with the right yarn - be expanded into wearable shawls, curtains, table runners or any other lacy thing you fancy. The language is a bit dated, but otherwise easy to figure out.