Knitting Tips and Trade Secrets Expanded: Clever Solutions for Better Hand Knitting, Machine Knitting and Crocheting Paperback – February 6, 1996

Great book in excellent condition. It will be very useful to me over the years!

I borrowed this book from the library to see if it was "worth" buying for myself. After I found myself referring to it constantly and renewing it for an additional 30 days, I realized it was a "keeper." Although I don't do machine knitting, the tips for handknitters are many and diverse. The illustrations are clear and relevant. Most importantly, i found tips here that i had never seen before in other sources. All in all, a valuable and worthwhile purchase.

This short and wide (it looks like a normal-sized book, rotated 90 degrees), 121-page 1996 knitting book is a distillation of basic information from Threads magazine. Almost every page has a black and white graphic to demonstrate a concept. The subtitle of the book is: ‘Clever Solutions for Better Hand Knitting, Machine Knitting, and Crochet’.*Note: I primarily bought this book because of the inclusion of machine knitting (and I also enjoy crochet). With the book’s publication in 1996, this was the time of the emergence of electronic knitting machines, marking a move away from: a. hand-operated machines and b. a 1-step higher, patterning from punctured, inserted sheets for creating patterns (without any hand-manipulation) to c. fully electronic KMs.After the Introduction, written by the Treads magazine editor, the 8 chapters of the book are listed: Chapter 1. ‘Yarn’; Chapter 2. ‘Hand-Knitting Techniques’; Chapter 3. ‘Multicolor Knitting’; Chapter 4. ‘Garmentmaking Tips’; Chapter 5. ‘Managing Your Knitting’; Chapter 6. ‘Machine Knitting’; Chapter 7. ‘Crochet’; and Chapter 8. ‘Finishing and Caring for Your Project.Finally, the Index comprises pages 120-121. A plus for this book is that an advanced concept, Steekes, is covered on pages 63-65.There are 4 Main Problems with this book:I. Look at page 68. In the entire book, there is a only 1 simple hand knitting pattern, ‘The World’s Simplest Socks’, submitted by a Threads reader. There should have been more. However, there are no patterns at all given for machine knitting (a. hand-operated, b. patterns created from inserted sheets, and c. patterns brought up by computer in electronic machines; there also needs to be information about yarn thicknesses that different KMs use) or crochet. The main reason: both of these yarn crafts have chapters devoted to them in the book.II. Missing in all 3 areas (HK, MK, and crochet) is the discussion of needles (their sizes [which create different sizes of stitches], their composition, and their care).III. There is very little discussion about the comparison of the different compositions of yarn – only pages 117-118. This information mentions only a bit about washing.IV. After this, on page 119 are simple Knitting Abbreviations, which should have been expanded. Also, because the book subtitle avers that it also covers machine knitting and crochet, there should have been Abbreviation sections written for these 2 yarn stitch crafts – and there weren’t.Because this book is missing so much information, especially that dealing with MK and crochet – both major sections of the book mentioned in the subtitle - , this book does not adequately deal with all 3 craft hobby skill sets. I hope that a future edition is written to solve these problems, so that the book is complete.As such, right now I can only give this book 3 stars. This book, however, is worth looking at, so I would advise going to a physical bookstore or a library to look it over.

This is a great book. I would recommend it to any knitter from beginner to experienced. If there is an answer you need it is in this book and it is easy to understand.

Found this at the public library and decided I wanted my own copy!

Well written hand book in a portable size

The accumulated experience and wisdom of many successful knitters ~ a good reference book with excellent illustrations, how-to diagrams and helpful advice ~

Excellent purchase as advertised.

Taunton Press books are great. I'm never disappointed.

un peu déçue du type de conseils donnés. Je m'attendais à plus de "secrets". J'imagine que pour un débutant, cela peut être utile.

ein Grundlagenbuch über Zöpfe, Arans usw.das Buch ist auf englisch geschrieben, aber gut verständlich, leider keine Modellvorgaben, daher nur bedingt zu gebrauchen

Thanks for your item it is just as described, arrived quite quick , a pleasure doing business with you, will buy again

Great/