Lily Chin's Knitting Tips & Tricks: Shortcuts and Techniques Every Knitter Should Know

by Lily Chin

Toss Lily into your project bag and bring her stitching savvy, troubleshooting techniques, and no-frills know-how wherever your knitting takes you!

Are you one of the thousands of Lily Chin converts who swear by her legendary Tips & Tricks classes? Or are you an avid knitter in search of a portable, accessible technique guide?


Knitters of every level will love Lily Chin's Knitting Tips & Tricks for its simple solutions to everyday knitting problems. Covering everything from knitting standards and conventions to working with various types of yarns to fixing stitch mistakes, Lily's book is a comprehensive distillation of her decades of experience, and by the end of it she will have answered knitting questions that you didn't even know you had. 

Genres: Knitting, Nonfiction, Crafts, Reference

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2009

About the author

Published as Lily M. Chin and Lily Chin

Lily Chin, named a “Master Knitter” by Vogue Knitting International, has designed knitwear for magazines and yarn companies for nearly 25 years, and she has worked with designers Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang, Diane von Furstenberg, and Isaac Mizrahi. Her work has been on the backs of celebrities and super models, from Racquel Welch and Vanna White to Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. She is the author of Knit and Crochet with Beads, The Urban Knitter, and Mosaic Magic, and she has written the “On Designing” column for Knitter’s Magazine and the annual “Focus on Fibers” report for Knit ‘n Style.

Lily also is the reigning champion fastest crocheter in the world, a title she defended in October 2004 at the world championships in London. Lily Chin regularly appears as a spokesperson for the yarn industry in media across the U.S., including Time, the New York Times, USA Today, the David Letterman Show, the CBS Early Show, DIY’s Knitty Gritty, E! Style Network’s Craft Corner Death Match, Lifetime’s Handmade by Design, HGTV’s Sew Much More, and CNN.

Lily Chin has lived in New York City nearly all her life and has been involved in some aspect of the fashion industry since age 13. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, and was educated at Queens College, City University of New York.

Reviews

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book with lots of tips. Not a lot new here for me; however, her tip about knitting each swatch with a row that includes *K2TOG, YO* to match the needle-size number is genius.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering the book size and the font size, in additional to the valuable information and well expressed tips, this book will make an excellent gift for a beginner or intermediate knitter.

before reading this book, I used to think that binding off a knitted piece with a crochet hook is a knitting sin I should never reveal...however, this book present it as a helpful tip

my fav. tips

Eyelets in swags for needle size

knitting buttons

Using latch hook

Last stitch in circular piece

[Jasper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with other reviews - most of this book consisted of tips that would be helpful for beginners or people who have been knitting for a couple years, but there wasn't much for advanced knitters looking to up their game. The most useful parts was about using elastic with dots to mark button placement, and all the different things you can do to your swatches to test the yarn before starting a project.

[Anna-Laura Hocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lily Chin, Knitting Queen

Lily Chin is the greatest living knitter and crocheter. She knows her stitches and techniques. She is thorough yet concise. The reader can rest assured s/he is receiving the BEST tips and tricks when purchasing a Lily Chin needlework book.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe the title got me? This was just a basic knitting guide. I was really looking for those tips and or tricks. And I didn’t really find them.

[Judy Gacek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book for beginners. Advanced knitters would be aware of most of the tips and tricks.

[Tamzin Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid reference book for beginning and intermediate knitters

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is organized for the beginning knitter, it isn't formatted that I can read the fun list of tricks easily without reading all about casting on and how to make a knit stitch. That said, I already adore this author because she bothers to explain garter stitch vs stockinette vs reverse stockinette right on page 52. I have yet to read any other knitting book that explains it so clearly, purls are the other side of knits, and you can't separate them. Garter is alternating rows of smooth knits and bumpy purls, but you mostly see the bumps because they engulf they smooth. (See, even I don't describe it well. But Lily Chin does)
This was one of the big issues I had when learning how to knit.

[Tessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meeeeeeeh. This is more of a basic technique book (this is how you cast on....) than a tips and tricks book. The author came off as outrageously arrogant, stating that the only reason crochet cast on is popular now is because of her classes (whaaaat?) and you would not even believe how many times the phrase "...some people do it like this, but I don't so I won't even bother to show you any way but mine," is used or implied.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad I ignored the more negative reviews - this was a quick, fun read. I've been knitting for more than 25 years but got some new ideas from this book: the attention to swatch weight was new to me, the explanation of the math behind the rule about how much yarn to plan for the long tail cast on was intriguing, and I'd never have thought of using clothespins to avoid creating an accidental möbius item. I'll have to try that sometime!

[Manda B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource, I think. Please note that if you already own the book & decide to take her Knitting Tips & TRicks class, it's basically a verbatim highlight of popular techniques from the book. Not a bad thing, just something to make note of.

[Jak · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of this was stuff I already knew, since I'm not necessarily a novice knitter, but I did learn a new cast on method and her explanation of how to block was one of the clearer ones I've received. I highly recommend this for new knitters.

[Anna Piranha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anti-lefthanded bias. Had I known that the advice for lefties was to knit right handed I would not have purchased this. There is not much in here usable for me. All fine and well for righties though, I suppose.

[Christie Skipper Ritchotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars, really. I don't know how an experienced knitter would feel about this one, but as a very new newb, it was only a little helpful. I wanted more tips and tricks, and less on the history of yarn.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but intermediate to advanced knitters should totally skip. Also not really anything here you can't find out on the internets.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great advice even for experienced knitters. It never hurts to be reminded of the basics.

[Heywu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would buy this book.