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DESIGNER KNITTING
This collection, edited by Ehrman, brings together some of the best & brightest knitwear ideas. The designers include Kaffe Fassett, Sasha Kagan, Annabel Fox, Susan Duckworth, Mary Hobson, Joe Hunt, & Sue Bradley. The designs are rich in color & texture, yet all are within the capabilities of the average knitter. You will Simply & easy to follow instructions Charts Patterns Techniques & tricks Designs for women, men & children Color photos
- GenresKnitting
94 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 5, 2025
A total treasure trove of what was popular to knit in the 1980s complete with several Princess Diana look-alike models. Lots of textures, colors, Fair Isle, cables, intarsia - sometimes in the same sweater, it seems! A lovely show of excess. Slimming down the silhouettes would automatically modernize the garments, and then you'd probably want to edit out a color or three. Since this is the work of many Rowan Yarn designers, I have no doubt that the pattern writing and shaping is correct. Photography is professional. Just not a book I need to hang onto any longer, but it was a fun skip down 1980s Memory Lane.
September 16, 2012
Comments: Sue Bradley; Sue Duckworth; Kaffe Fassett; Annabel Fox; Mary Hobson; Zoe Hunt; Sasha Kagan all have patterns in this.
Sue Bradley:
Japanese Stripe - jumper with a button-on collar, false buttoning for a double breasted look and batwing sleeves. While she claims Yoshimi Kihara it could also be inspired by Mondarin
Batwing - a side-to side, asymetric cardigan that makes my head hurt, described as "roomy"
Crisp Cotton - I looked at it and wondered what the collar looked like under the frill and then read the description, the frill is the collar *headdesk* Loose fitting with fair isle in a "fine mercerized cotton so it will be quite time-consuming to knit". Time possibly spent in wiser pursuits
Susan Duckworth:
Ruched Cardigan - if the title wasn't enough can I also throw in Fair Isle motifs, she did
String of beads - cotton jumper with bobbles and horizontal stripes, together
Basketweave Sweater - Could be interesting, entrelac piece with fairly small squares, I think that leaving the pattern out could be a good thing, the 3/4 length sleeves actually compliment it.
Tartary - Big Flowers on a cotton jacket. The photographer found matching trousers. My brain hurts.
Peony - "roomy" with leaves and flowers and "wide full sleeves"
Kaffe Fassett
Jeweled Stripes - a sleeveless pullover with multiple stripes, only for the thin
Feathers - Kaffe's Classic Feathers pattern, interesting and complicated but with a very boxy look here in a unisex cardigan.
Chintz - busy large flower big fitting sweater. Not one of my favourites of his.
Star Jacket - Big bulky jacket with large stars
Annabel Fox
Viking - boxy heraldic jumper that you could possibly knit for a man by eliminating most of the designs in favour of one or two.
Caribbean Cotton - Abstract fruit and flowers on a cropped jumper
Mary Hobson
Scottie - a cardigan with a high FRILLED collar a row of scotties, puffed sleeves and applied frill. *shudder*
Florentine Check - roll neck sweater with a grid pattern emphasised by metal studs, without them this would be quite a boring jumper.
Harlequin - an almost polo shirt but with 3/4 length sleeves and a busy diamond pattern in vertical stripes.
Geometric - Blocks of colour in a boxy jumper with a collared neckline. Quite busy but has potential for subtler shades
Purely Pretty. Well if your pretty has slit sleeves, anghora, cabled ribs and puff sleeves, yeah, pretty.
Bobbles for two - Squares of bobbles interspersed with plain squares, and there are multiple colour bobbles.
Honeycomb - Pink, Mohair, dolman-sleeve, frilled ruff collar, tasselled ties.... need I say more?
Zoe Hunt
Chinese Puzzle - Kids jersey with tangram style shapes.
Peacock Jacket - Zoe Hunt - puff sleeved, short cardigan with mohair
Nordic Jazz - I'm really not sure where the nordic comes in here but this is a pretty busy kids jumper, you might convince a kid into it but I'm not sure that many adults would be convinced into the adult version.
Sasha Kagan
Aztec - slipover with horizontal stripes that uses interesting textile mix and ideas.
Buy/Borrow: If you own any Kaffe Fasset books you have the patterns, this is a trainwreck of a book
Sue Bradley:
Japanese Stripe - jumper with a button-on collar, false buttoning for a double breasted look and batwing sleeves. While she claims Yoshimi Kihara it could also be inspired by Mondarin
Batwing - a side-to side, asymetric cardigan that makes my head hurt, described as "roomy"
Crisp Cotton - I looked at it and wondered what the collar looked like under the frill and then read the description, the frill is the collar *headdesk* Loose fitting with fair isle in a "fine mercerized cotton so it will be quite time-consuming to knit". Time possibly spent in wiser pursuits
Susan Duckworth:
Ruched Cardigan - if the title wasn't enough can I also throw in Fair Isle motifs, she did
String of beads - cotton jumper with bobbles and horizontal stripes, together
Basketweave Sweater - Could be interesting, entrelac piece with fairly small squares, I think that leaving the pattern out could be a good thing, the 3/4 length sleeves actually compliment it.
Tartary - Big Flowers on a cotton jacket. The photographer found matching trousers. My brain hurts.
Peony - "roomy" with leaves and flowers and "wide full sleeves"
Kaffe Fassett
Jeweled Stripes - a sleeveless pullover with multiple stripes, only for the thin
Feathers - Kaffe's Classic Feathers pattern, interesting and complicated but with a very boxy look here in a unisex cardigan.
Chintz - busy large flower big fitting sweater. Not one of my favourites of his.
Star Jacket - Big bulky jacket with large stars
Annabel Fox
Viking - boxy heraldic jumper that you could possibly knit for a man by eliminating most of the designs in favour of one or two.
Caribbean Cotton - Abstract fruit and flowers on a cropped jumper
Mary Hobson
Scottie - a cardigan with a high FRILLED collar a row of scotties, puffed sleeves and applied frill. *shudder*
Florentine Check - roll neck sweater with a grid pattern emphasised by metal studs, without them this would be quite a boring jumper.
Harlequin - an almost polo shirt but with 3/4 length sleeves and a busy diamond pattern in vertical stripes.
Geometric - Blocks of colour in a boxy jumper with a collared neckline. Quite busy but has potential for subtler shades
Purely Pretty. Well if your pretty has slit sleeves, anghora, cabled ribs and puff sleeves, yeah, pretty.
Bobbles for two - Squares of bobbles interspersed with plain squares, and there are multiple colour bobbles.
Honeycomb - Pink, Mohair, dolman-sleeve, frilled ruff collar, tasselled ties.... need I say more?
Zoe Hunt
Chinese Puzzle - Kids jersey with tangram style shapes.
Peacock Jacket - Zoe Hunt - puff sleeved, short cardigan with mohair
Nordic Jazz - I'm really not sure where the nordic comes in here but this is a pretty busy kids jumper, you might convince a kid into it but I'm not sure that many adults would be convinced into the adult version.
Sasha Kagan
Aztec - slipover with horizontal stripes that uses interesting textile mix and ideas.
Buy/Borrow: If you own any Kaffe Fasset books you have the patterns, this is a trainwreck of a book
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews