Knitting Lace: A Workshop with Patterns and Projects

by Susanna E. Lewis

Book Overview

The 91 motifs presented in this book were taken from a 19th century lace sampler in the Brooklyn Museum. Lewis dissects and charts each pattern to make them accessible to lace knitters of all skill levels. In this book, you will find complete written and charted instructions for all 91 patterns in the sampler. Full instructions for four lace projects: a shawl, a sweater, a girl's dress, and socks/stockings. Detailed directions to design and chart...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0942391527
• ISBN13: 9780942391527
• Release Date: July 1992
• Publisher: Taunton Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

So happy to finally find this book

I checked this book out from my local library and was excitedly reading about how to "transpose" patterns from horizontal to vertical and other ways only to find the most relevant pages missing. I'm so excited to find a copy to finally get the information I need! It is very clearly written and understandable--essential to a beginning lace knitter.

Brooklyn Museum reprint is in the works

I emailed the Brooklyn Museum and was told the Museum is planning on publishing a reprint of this book next spring! When available the reprint will be listed on the Museum's website[..]

Please contact the Brooklyn Museum re: reprint

Meg Swansen of Schoolhouse Press is trying to get this book reprinted but has not been able to get a meeting with Brooklyn Museum officials so if you'd like to see this reprinted as much as I would, please send a letter (I never got any response to emails) to the Director of the Brooklyn Museum at at 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238-6052 asking him to consider Ms. Swansen's request. This is a immensely valuable resource for lace knitters and should not be available only to collectors.

Plea to reprint this

If you are a lace knitter and would like to have a copy of this publication, please contact the Dover Books (Customer Service) and request them to reprint this book. The more people making the request increases the probability of it getting back into print. The book is an excellent resource for learning to understand the process of lace knitting but the resale amount is utterly beyond reason. Check your local library for a copy and if they do not have one, ask the reference librarian to do an interlibrary loan, it may take a few weeks before you get it but you have not spend hundreds of dollars on it.

As a beginning knitter, it made sense to me.

I decided to learn lace knitting after never having done any other sort of knitting before. If this had been my first book on the subject, I would have saved myself a lot of time and frustration. I've been working from it for a couple of months now and it all makes sense to me. To use it you should know how to cast on and off, how to knit and purl, and how to do a yarn over;she will explain the rest. The diagrams of the basic stitches used are in the back and are quite clear. The book, which is beautifully designed, is divided into two sections. In the first, the author shows you how to knit, section by section, a reproduction of a historical knitted lace sampler. The stitches vary from simple ones with a few rows per design motif to quite complex ones with motifs composed of many rows. The second section explains the theory behind pattern construction. It is very clear and well organized. The author explains things such as why certain stitches work well together, how to build patterns out of combinations of other patterns, and how to make your own charts. In other words, it teaches you how to free yourself of pattern books. The given patterns, however, are very fun and beautiful to knit. I highly recommend this work to experienced knitters and beginners alike.