Beyond Knit and Purl’ by Kate Atherley is a treasure for knitters. No one taught me to knit; I learned it all from books. When I started I had the embarrassing situation of being able to knit but not purl. I did the usual, knitting scarves in numerous quantities until I got sick of it.

Then I put it all away for ten years! Suddenly, I figured out how to purl. I finally figured out that there was one tiny step that the books were not telling me. Why weren’t they mentioning it? Because, that step becomes automatic after you have done it so many things and then you forget that it is a step. Kate Atherley’s book tells you the little things that you need to know that are skipped in patterns.

So, now I am knitting hats, vests, purses and blankets and want to go to something more difficult. This book will help me up the stairs of knitting. She has a chart that tells you the difficulty level of different projects. What she says makes good sense. She advises to not have the project so simple that you get bored easily and not too difficult so you are tempted to quit. She also gives clues as to what are the more challenging things to make.

Several features that she has throughout the book that help are: little blue boxes labeled “Knitterly Advice” that tells you tips on how to feel about your knitting project and little green boxes, “Quick Tips”, that give secrets, reasons why and simple how tos.

Her book is thankfully richly illustrated. I looked at the illustrations for how to knit with four needles at once and wished that I had this book back when I was figuring it out for my own self. It would have helped.
This book is not just for beginners, it explains the ins and outs of all stages of knitting expertise. I plan to soak up the tips for making lace and work on mastering the art of turning a heel.

I gladly recommend this book for all knitters no matter what their stage of knitting skills is.

I received this book from GoodReads but that in no way influenced my review, my thoughts are my own. ( )

I am very happy with this book and it has made me pick up a pair of needles and try once again to get the hang of knitting. This book will definitely be a reference guide for a long time. I highly recommend this book but I will say I don't think it's for someone that does not know the basics of knitting. If you don't know how to begin or knit one purl two then find a beginners book. I won this from Goodreads. ( )