Domino Knitting

Rating:
Summary: Great little handbook for an addictive knitting technique
Review: Domino knitting is a type of knitting done in modules. Instead of starting at a hem (or a neck if you do top-down knitting), you make small "potholder" or tiles in knitted squares or strips. Then, using a "sew-as-you-knit" technique, you add square upon square, strip next to strip, and make your garment piece. In a way, it's like coloring in a line drawing in a coloring book, using small knitted modules to complete the front, back or sleeves. Those who learn this method of knitting say that it is addictive, and I can affirm that. I find it quite enjoyable. Many knitters find that it is less stressful on the hands, too--only a small piece is knitted at any one time, even though it might be attached to the larger part of a project.

Vivian Hoxbro is a Danish designer who was very smitten with Horst Schulz' "Patchwork Knitting." She attended his seminar in Berlin, and went back to Denmark to adapt it to her own ideas. Being Scandinavian, she uses simpler designs and more understated color schemes than the bright colorways Schulz favors. And her approach in this book is different, too. Rather than have you follow the pattern for a garment, she presents a number of potholder projects that teach various ways to knit and join modules. When you've mastered the potholders, you can progress on to coffee pot warmers, backpacks, shawls and hats. Hoxbro's colorways are novel and fashionable and her designs are quite clever--how about a knitted cache-pot to cover an African violet pot? Or a denim-like backpack or basket to hang on the Christmas tree. The modular aspect of domino knitting makes it versatile for more than just garments.

Most of the projects in this book are small, appropriate for learning a new technique. And also, the small projects are useful to learn patience, for, as Ms. Hoxbro points out, domino knitting is slower than standard knitting. I am in the middle of a project (a large jacket) and I can say that it is slower, but one reason for that is due to the size needle and yarn (2.5 mm needles and 2 ply shetland yarn.) However, once I mastered the technique, I found that the knitting progresses rather quickly after all, and it's quite hypnotic.

This book, which is a translation of the original Danish edition, is a small paperback. While it fits nicely into a knitting project bag, I found the print and pictures smaller than I would have liked. However, since this is both a technique book and a small project book, the smaller format works for a little knitting item you may stash in a purse or lunch bag for a take-anywhere project.

Rating:
Summary: Good Designs
Review: I liked this book better than the Horst Schulz book--Domino Knitting's projects stand up on their own without relying on fancy (read: expensive) yarns. The Amazon price is a more realistic one, considering the size of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Good Designs
Review: I've had this book for several months now and can't put it down. It is definitely a book for the creative knitter! I've knit and tested most of the patterns in it and have truly become addicted to the technique. The book is tiny, but packed from cover to cover with many ideas and projects from small to large. It emphasizes texture and color in a way that few other techniques do. Photos are clear and beautifully done. I like that the book works it's way from simple projects and techniques to more complex and larger ones towards the end. It grows with you. Charts, diagrams and patterns are clear and easy to understand. I think it is a book that even beginner can benefit from using and grow with.
Once you learn domino knitting, you will find yourself "envisioning" other patterns knit using this technique. It is a great way to use up leftover stash yarns, too!

Rating:
Summary: Small book, many ideas
Review: Not for people who buy books by the pound. But lots
of ideas and techniques for the $. I never made it
through a potholder project. The first potholder
grew into a preschooler sweater that is much worn and loved.

Rating:
Summary: Small book, many ideas
Review: Unfortunately I have to say I was rather disappointed with this book. As an avid knitter of all styles, when I saw this I was intrigued and excited as I thought I had stumbled across something new. However when I got the book and eagerly opened its pages, I found nothing more than techniques I had been using for the last 15 or so years. Yes, they were presented in lovely format, and yes, the garment ideas are beautiful, and yes, for someone just discovering this sort of knitting I can see how they would be amazing. Having made numerous bedspreads and other items in this manner previously myself -- just calling them 'patchwork' [I guess I am just old....] -- I found nothing particularly new or inspiring here.

If you are fairly new to the craft of knitting then this book will teach you many things. It is a very easy book to digest, with beautiful full color illustrations of the finished items and clear drawings of techniques, so that a knitter of nearly any skill level could follow the patterns. However if you are an experienced knitter and well versed with stitch patterns and techniques such as entrelac, then I fear like me you too might find this book a shade disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Domino Disappointment
Review: Unfortunately I have to say I was rather disappointed with this book. As an avid knitter of all styles, when I saw this I was intrigued and excited as I thought I had stumbled across something new. However when I got the book and eagerly opened its pages, I found nothing more than techniques I had been using for the last 15 or so years. Yes, they were presented in lovely format, and yes, the garment ideas are beautiful, and yes, for someone just discovering this sort of knitting I can see how they would be amazing. Having made numerous bedspreads and other items in this manner previously myself -- just calling them 'patchwork' [I guess I am just old....] -- I found nothing particularly new or inspiring here.

If you are fairly new to the craft of knitting then this book will teach you many things. It is a very easy book to digest, with beautiful full color illustrations of the finished items and clear drawings of techniques, so that a knitter of nearly any skill level could follow the patterns. However if you are an experienced knitter and well versed with stitch patterns and techniques such as entrelac, then I fear like me you too might find this book a shade disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Vivian inspires innovation
Review: Vivian inspires innovation with this beautiful handbook. Sure, most of us can knit a sweater and numerous projects, but Vivian gives us instructions on basics, which can be used to adapt the pattern, and make it ours. She encourages adaptations. I skipped the potholders, started with the baby vest idea, used a larger yarn, turned it into a poncho, and totally redid the neck with a collar. This was accomplished without tearing out any stitches.

Also, I would like to add, that I have met Vivian at a yarn market, and she is a wonderful soul, and she even answers her email in Denmark.

Be happy knitting.