Beyond Wool: 25 Knitted Projects Using Natural Fibers

by Candace Eisner Strick

Back by popular demand, this beautiful book is your guide to sensuous silk, cozy cashmere, and earthy linen, cotton, and hemp. Learn how to show off the unique qualities of natural yarns with this library of tips, techniques, and patterns. The book features 10 fun-to-knit fibers in 25 luxurious sweaters and fashion accents.



* Classic designs include a coat, shawl, jacket, cardigan, stole, pullover, and vest

* Discover the origins of each fiber, along with design suggestions, cleaning and care tips, and gorgeous stitch patterns

* Most yarns are spotlighted in three different projects for a generous helping of styles

Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

A self-taught quiltmaker, Candace Eisner Strick has been honing her craft since the 1970's. She also designs knitwear for several magazines and yarn companies. Together she and her husband run a pattern business online.

Reviews

[Priscilla King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like several Martingale books, I thought it was heinously overpriced when new, but well worth buying at book-club discount. There are 25 projects, not 20. Each is designed to highlight a natural-fiber yarn that was in stores at the time: mohair, angora, cashmere, qiviut, cotton, silk, linen, hemp. The author interviewed and photographed people who were producing the yarns as an introduction to the things she designed to use the yarns. Each section includes a woman's sweater and something else--a scarf, bag, blanket--no men's or children's garments. Each design would be fun for a reasonably skilled knitter, not a first project, perhaps a third or fourth project. Each design offers plenty of redesigning potential. This is important because most of the sweaters have that early 1970s revival look that some of us were ready to bury in 1973, and, perhaps by way of fair disclosure, they're photographed on a square-faced, bottom-heavy model whom they make look fat. (The cover sweater is by far the best.) But the colors and patterns make me itch to reuse them in things people will actually use now, in fancy yarns or plain ones.

How many times does it count as "reading" if you're "reading" pattern pictures?