The lovely folk over at Quadrille publishing got in touch with me recently, offering to send me Erika Knight’s latest knitting book called ‘Simple Knitting‘ and asked me if I’d review it here. I’ve had this book for weeks now, desperate to do it justice so here we go.

Firstly I should own up and say that I was aware of Erika Knight as a knitting author already as my friend Midwife Katie had used one of her patterns from ‘Simple Knits for Cherished Babies‘ to knit a sweater for Nairn. I’ve been a knitter for a long time and as someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, I’m used to the easy availability of free patterns but I still ordered that book based on the one sweater I’d seen designed by this author.

Erika Knight’s style is very distinctive – it’s perhaps obvious to state that she goes for simple designs – so it wasn’t a surprise to me at all to discover that she has consulted with high street brands with instantly recognisable clothing ranges like Gap and M&S. This new book builds on her ‘simple’ look with 20 projects that really appeal to a broad spectrum of abilities and tastes all set out in a workshop fashion.

It’s slightly difficult for me to review this book as it is very much aimed at complete novices but suffice to say if I was learning to knit right now, this is the book I’d pick to teach myself. Beautifully photographed and illustrated instructions combined with Knight’s clean and simple style make this book easy-to-follow. Particularly appealing for me is that the author does not assume that her learners will be ‘afraid’ of their new hobby so alongside the usual explanations of different yarn types and weights there is also indepth instruction in understanding pattern construction, knitting in the round and reading charts – three elements of knitting that I didn’t understand until fairly recently and I’ve been knitting for over 20 years now.

Better yet, despite this book’s clear focus on instructing newbies each workshop ends with a completed project that is actually both desirable and useful whilst the learner has unwittingly developed new skills and techniques. The very first project provides the new knitter with a fashionable muffler and the others are just as creative – my personal favourite being the notebooks made as project #4 – between socks, a hot water bottle cover and a sweater I was truly spoiled for what to choose to work on first. I strongly suspect this is going to be the book I buy for any of my friends who express an interest in knitting from now on and I highly recommend it!

Simple Knitting by Erika Knight – RRP £16.99 – is published by Quadrille publishing

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