Aran Sweater Design

Aran knits are some of the most beautiful and intricate designs you can make, especially in a sweater. This book is an affront to a lover of aran knitting. It is very limited in instruction, with very few patterns. There are only 4 - FOUR! sweaters in this book (and nothing else), and even those seem like a repeated iteration of a very similar thing.To boot, the books is printed on very thin, coarse paper, with ink showing thru the page to the other side, and the few photos that there are, look very dated, dark and gloomy. The cover and the pages are so soft, the book is just flopping around in your hand. It feels like such a haphazard and halfhearted effort on the part of the author, it is simply SAD. For those looking for some stunning patterns and a lot of fantastic info, check out some of Alice Starmore's books, especially 'Aran Knitting' (2010) - you will be blown away by the quality of instruction and design patterns.Frankly, this book should get a ZERO rating.

From the time I saw my first Aran design (which happened to be an afghan), I knew that I had found my home in the crocheting and knitting community. I am one of the growing number of men who greatly enjoys both knitting and crocheting, though developing skills in knitted Aran work is something relatively new to me. Janet's book on Cables and this one are two of the finest I have ever seen when it comes to detailed instruction. I am very pleased to have purchased both books, and even more pleased to know that their content is going to teach me pretty much everything I want to know when it comes to this style of knitting.

So I got this book for her birthday and she is excited to try every pattern in the book. Of course, her first project is one of the toughest (the cover pattern). Nightly, I hear her swearing at having made a mistake, lost count or misread some instruction, yet she tells me she is so glad I bought the book for her. I don't understand...maybe cable sweaters are delightful torture for some people. She thinks it is a great resource and has learned a lot from reading the book.

I asked myself how many knitting books a person needs. As it turns out, probably not all that many. But if you have even the most cursory interest in sweater design, you do need this book. I've been knitting for 25 years, and I'm astonished at how much this book has taught me. Helpful close-up photos and the author's light, conversational tone will make you feel like you have her sitting right next to you. As the author is the one selling the book on Amazon, it arrived autographed, which I thought was a nice touch, and would make it a particularly nice gift for any knitters you know.

I bought this as a reference book, but once I opened it, I had to read it cover to cover because it was so fascinating. Although I am a very experienced knitter, there were so many tips and techniques that were new to me. I particularly appreciated the many ways of maintaining patterns through the shaping increases and decreases.

Some really nice ideas, but sticking with the older classic design books would save a lot of expense since I already had those.

One of the best books on designing Aran style knitwear since Alice Starmore I liked it so much I bought a copy for my only knitting offsrping (hey one out of four isn't bad)

This book is great for designing your own Aran sweater. It explains the background of Aran sweater design and offers many patterns to use/incorporate into a sweater. So many 'newer' knitting books are full of fluff, but for any serious knitter, this should belong on your bookshelf.

I have several books on knitting Arans, including this authors basic book on Aran stitches (" Cables Vol 1: The Basics", by Janet Szabo, also a good book ) so I already have a good collection of Aran stitches. But this book talks about how to design your own Aran sweater , with different shapes of pullover or cardigan - raglan, dropped shoulder , peasant sleeves, saddle shoulder, and , my own favourite, the set-in sleeve - either top-down or bottom-up. While the book includes a few sample designs, this book is made for those who want to design their own sweater. So probably not for beginner Aran knitters. But a terrific book for those who want to customize their own Arans to suit themselves. I love it. I have made many Arans from patterns, and I have designed a few of my own, but I got a lot of good tips from this book, and I can hardly wait to start my next one.

This book is exactly what the title says, it is about how to design Aran sweaters.Please note: it does not include the stitch patterns. I was glad I learnt this beforehand from an Amazon.com review and so bought the sister title "Cables: volume 1 the basics", however, the author also recommends Barbara Walker's and Harmony books for the stitches.What do you get in this book then? every other aspect of design you'd expect, and more.The book is in three parts, Part one is "Aran Background and Fundamentals" which includes these chapters: Materials, Learning the Ropes, Creating a Design, Putting it all Together, Useful Aran Knitting Tips. Part two is "From Concept to Sweater", and the chapters are: Constructing an Aran, Dropped-Shoulder Aran, Peasant Sleeve Arans, Set-in sleeve Arans, Raglan Sleeve Arans, Aran Vests, T-Sleeve Arans, Wide Saddle Arans. The last part gives four basic projects - a vest (waistcoat), a pullover, a set-in sleeve design and a cardigan.I really like the author's style and approach to writing. She's careful and clear and very thorough. I am sure that the reason the stitches are in a separate book is that it is all just too much for a single volume, and she wasn't going to compromise on the details! (This book is 175 pages, the other is 228.)

By far,this is the best book I've seen to learn all the concepts of aran knitting.the author explains all types of cables and then how to use them to make your own aran sweater design,flat,circular or any which way.There are no cable patterns here,which I believe are continued in her other book on cables.