A Year of Knitting Stitches

by Tabetha Hedrick

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

A Year of Knitting Stitches is a concise perpetual calendar of one-a-day stitch patterns collected and curated by Tabetha Hedrick. Released 7th Nov 2023 by Rowman & Littlefield on their Stackpole imprint, it's 408 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats. 

Precisely what it says on the cover, this is a collection of daily knitting patterns including lace, cables, textured stitches, mosaic, and colorwork, arranged by calendar date, 1st Jan to 31st Dec. Each day is a single page, with a color photo of the finished pattern, written directions, and with a required stitch count for each repeat. 

Comparatively, there are a lot of really nice designs here which are new and -not- included in any commonly available knitting dictionary. They're generally smaller repeats and less intensive/difficult than, for example, the Japanese pattern dictionaries. That being said, there is no basic how-to-knit tutorial included here. The author has included some general how-to at the back of the collection and a very basic shawl/stole recipe which shows readers one potential way to adapt the stitches in the collection.

Five stars, although there's very little that 100% new and innovative with knitting (humans have been knitting a very long time), this collection is full of small simple repeats which are useful. Absolutely recommended for the knitter's home collection, public or school library acquisition, fibre arts guilds' libraries, maker's groups, and similar. It would also make a welcome gift for a fibre-happy friend. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.