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This must be my lucky week! Just four days ago, I posted an interview with Ellen Gormley. Today, I’m excited to post an interview with Margaret Hubert. If you have been crocheting or knitting for any length of time, you have probably come in contact with one of Margaret’s books
The Interview
A few years ago, I learned that the New York Public Library allowed card holders to search for and request books from any branch. These books would be delivered to your local branch for pick up. I was surprised to find out that the libraries have a pretty good collection of crochet books. It was about this time that I was first noticing the names of different designers. I was introduced to Margaret through the Hooked series
Margaret is also one of the designers featured in Crochet Master Class
Underground Crafter (UC): Who first taught you to knit and crochet?
Margaret: My mother taught me to knit at a very young age. I do not even remember learning. According to my Mom, I used to try knitting with 2 pencils, and she decided that she should teach me the proper way. I learned to crochet when I was 19 from the owner of my local yarn shop. I had knitted a sweater that needed a crochet border. My Mom said that she couldn’t help me as she wasn’t a very good crocheter, so I asked for help. Mrs. B. put a crochet hook in my hands, taught me to single crochet, and I haven’t stopped since.
to be a really helpful resource. What tips do you have for people returning to knitting or crocheting after a long absence?
UC: What are your favorite crochet and knitting books in your collection (besides yours, of course)?
by Ann Stearns, A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
and A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns
by Barbara Walker. There are many more, but these are my favorites.
After about 25 years away from knitting, in the last year I decided to conquer my fears (of making enormous trapezoids) and start to knit again. Perhaps my motor skills are better now, or I understand yarn and needlecrafts better, or I’m just more patient, but this time it “stuck.” An invaluable tool that I picked up along the way was Margaret Hubert’s The Complete Photo Guide to Knitting
The book is organized into three major sections: Knitting Basics, Stitch Patterns, and Specialty Knitting Methods. As the title suggests, the book is heavy on photographs and light on illustrations. (Sidenote: I personally find it impossible to learn anything new from an illustration, but can use illustrations as reminders for techniques I’m already familiar with.) Margaret opens with a brief history of knitting, and then jumps into the Knitting Basics section. This section includes a review of tools, pattern abbreviations, and provides an explanation of how to read patterns in addition to the abbreviations. At this point, the book jumps into various techniques for casting on (5 options), forming the knit and purl stitches (2 methods each), and binding off (3 options). Each technique includes multiple, large photographs which are clearly lit. Margaret then goes on to display several shaping methods. This is followed by knitting in the round, again including photographs with double-pointed needles, one circular, and then two circular needles. As you might guess from the interview, Margaret also emphasizes gauge! There is also a nice piece on finishing. This section has many photographs, but the text is rather brief. If you are a visual learner, this is probably an ideal reference book for you. If you learn best from reading descriptions of the process, this section is lacking some detail that you might need. For example, there is no discussion about choosing yarn, or how to hold the needles, or the usual debate between the continental and the English knitting methods.
The next section, Stitch Patterns, is like having a stitch guide embedded in the book. There are 185 stitch patterns, arranged by type:
- Basic stitches,
- Light textures,
- Medium and heavy textures,
- Laces,
- Ribs,
- Honeycomb and brioche stitches,
- Eyelets,
- Ripples and chevrons,
- Slip stitches,
- Color combos,
- Motifs, and
- Cables.
I love the way the stitch patterns are organized – like most knitters/crocheters, I hate seeing a wonderful stitch and then never being able to find it again. There is also a difficulty rating for each stitch (using the Craft Yarn Council standard skill levels). The swatches are beautifully photographed and are quite large, so you can see the detail. The colors Margaret uses for her yarns are also lovely. There are several project patterns in this section, generally following the type of stitch that is used in the pattern. This section is worth the price of admission alone for me, since it is a great stitch guide. However, if you are looking for stitch symbols, there are very few in this book – most patterns use abbreviations only. (The cable stitches in this section all include symbols though.)
The final section, Specialty Knitting Methods, introduces (or reminds!) the reader to (of) various techniques and includes at least one pattern along with a description of the method. The methods included are:
- One-Piece Knitting,
- Entrelac Knitting,
- Freeform Knitting (clearly one of Margaret’s favorite techniques!),
- Crazy Lace Knitting (pattern by Myra Wood),
- Knitting with Beads (pattern by Judy Pascale),
- Intarsia Knitting (pattern by Sasha Kagen),
- Twined Knitting (pattern by Beth Brown-Reinsel), and
- Ouroborus Kntting (pattern by Debbie New)
The Crazy Lace, Intarsia, and Twined projects include charts in addition to pattern abbreviations. As with the rest of the book, the projects are beautifully photographed and the colors and layout really bring the projects to life. In the last section, the photographs are of the projects, not the methods for creating the projects.
Overall, I recommend the The Complete Photo Guide to Knitting
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