Knitting Modular Shawls, Wraps, and Stoles
An Easy, Innovative Technique for Creating Custom Designs, with 185 Stitch Patterns by Melissa Leapman
This book concentrates on making shawls using a modular form in 7 easy steps.
Make a lot of these for others at nursing homes and for other religious charities.
Tips along the way that you can use in most any pattern you have used or will use in the future.
There are so many variations even in the edgings and starting rows.
Helps you decide on the shape you want.
Some of the colors of the finished items are in dark yarns with dark background-hard to see what it is you are looking at.
Like diagrams and charted stitching guides. Like how briefly the 7 steps are discussed then next chapters are more detailed.
There are charts along the way that show what you should select as per the yarn you choose and needles.
Found the book confusing as you have to go to many different sections in the book to finish one piece as they are broken up into modeular wedges.
Good thing is you can customize the sections to what you want to achieve. Gallery of shawls is included along with all the information you need to get the supplies to make one for yourself.
Resources include glossary of knitting techniques, shown in diagraoms along with written words in how to make them: how to read charts, finishing your shawl and an index in a foreign language.
Problem I have is I hate sewing smaller pieces up, rather do a one piece design-there are some of those as well.
Received this review copy from Storey Publishing, LLC via Netgalley and this is my honest opinion.
#KnittingModularShawlswrapsandStoles #NetGalley ( )

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. Sometimes a book falls into your hands at exactly the moment you need it. Knitting Modular Shawls, Wraps and Stoles by Melissa Leapman is one of those books. I had just finished knitting my first shawl based on an idea that started what if I did this. Exploring this book took me further down the path and now five shawls later I’m hooked. This book is both for people like me who like to design their own knitting projects and those who like clear concise patterns to follow. The photographs are beautiful, illustrations informative and the designs interesting and creative... the only limit is your imagination. I would say definitely add this book to your Christmas list if you are interested in creating beautiful shawls wraps and stoles.
Publishing Date December 25, 2018 #NetGalley #KnittingModularShawlsWrapsandStoles #MelissaLeapman #storeypublishing ( )

Knitting shawls can seem daunting. I've met a lot of knitters of all sorts of proficiency, who complain about shawl knitting, especially the ones with a lace patterned body.

This book makes shawl knitting understandable and easy to follow. Knitting a shawl is broken down into seven simple steps that the knitter needs to follow. Further, once you have understood those seven steps, you can mix and match from a multitude of forms, borders, edges, inserts, lace patterns, or simple textured pattern created by knits and purls.

As daunting as knitting a shawl might seem, it is not. I'd recommend this book to any knitter who knows how to cast on, knit, purl, do a yarn over, do a kfb, or kfbf; but even if you don't know how to do all of those yet, this book will show you. It also explains how to read charts. Advanced knitters might find this book interesting, because it helps them create their own patterns, since each step of the construction is explained.

There are a lot of projects with detailed pattern instructions, which you can use to explore different levels of shawl knitting, as well as, different shapes of shawls.

A gem among knitting books. ( )

There are so many knitting instruction books out there that it is becoming difficult to find new ideas. However, Melissa Leapman has succeeded in writing an excellent volume of interesting, interchangeable patterns for all levels of knitters of shawls, wraps or stoles. Knitters can design patterns by following instructions to combine sections. You will find patterns for triangles, horizontal insertions and borders which, when assembled, can provide unlimited possibilities. There are 212 patterns along with a glossary of knitting techniques, how to read knitting charts, a list of symbols and abbreviations and a metric conversion chart. This will make a great addition to your knitting library. Thank you to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Many thanks to Netgalley, Storey Publishing, and Melissa Leapman for an ARC in exchange for a review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Shawls are one of the most versatile pieces you can have in your wardrobe. They are an excellent layering piece, can be worn many different ways and are easy to make. You can use almost any different yarn weight so you can use your special lace weight skein that you bought when you were somewhere special, or a worsted weight that you have laying around in your stash. They make beautiful gifts and the knitted shawls of today are not what your grandma used to make.

If you are new to knitting you might not know that Melissa Leapman is a very well known and prolific designer. Her patterns have been in all the major publications for both knitting and crochet. She has written many books herself, some of which I own and I really do love her designs. Part of wanting to check out this book was because I saw that she was the author. She does not disappoint.

This book is truly amazing. There are so many components to it, so I’ll try and break it down for you. First she has 7 steps in creating the perfect shawl. First you choose your silhouette. She breaks down the shawl into the smallest component - the wedge. Then, depending on how you want your shape, you decide how many wedges you want. Two wedges creates the triangle shawl. Once you start adding on, there are different ways you can put the wedges together to get different shapes. You can use up to six wedges. The second step is the choose the stitch pattern. She has many in the book, but you can use any stitch you want, from any stitch pattern book. She has accounted for how to adjust to different number of stitches in the stitch pattern, so really anything can work. Then you decide on your background texture. Choosing between a knit background or a garter stitch background will really make a difference to the appearance of the stitch pattern. Step four asks you to choose your edging and step five a cast on tab, which goes hand in hand with the edging you have chosen. Step six means choosing a border and step seven a bind off and that completes the steps in constructing a shawl. You can choose a solid fabric or decide on a lacy, more openwork design, the choices are endless, but by breaking it into these easy steps nothing is overwhelming.

There are fixed patterns that you can follow step by step with picots of what the end product looks like. What is even better is that there is a gallery of shawls at the back set up so that you can see how each of the seven steps apply to each of the patterns. Simple substitution and small tweaks give you another jumping off point to creating your own design. Of course, you can be as creative as your imagination and remember, if you don’t like it, you can always undo it! There are no mistakes. I love that you can all take baby steps and get more creative as you become more comfortable with experience. There are many diagrams and charts that clearly help you map out what style you would like to make. Even with the most basic design, and a simple stitch pattern by simple changing one or two small elements like the border, or the edging, you can end up with a completely new looking shawl. The possibilities are endless!

This book is so easy to use, full of inspiration and really limitless in ideas, I think it will become a staple that you will refer to many times for many years. I am so excited! I can’t wait to cast on my first project. Now hmmm, which yarn shall I choose?? ( )