Loop-d-Loop: More Than 40 Novel Designs for Knitters

Loop-d-Loop: More Than 40 Novel Designs for Knitters
by Teva Durham

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Book Summary Information

Author: Teva Durham
Photographer: Adrian Buckmaster
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-05-01
ISBN: 1584794143
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang

Book Reviews of Loop-d-Loop: More Than 40 Novel Designs for Knitters

Book Review: Make Way for Youth and Beauty.
Summary: 5 Stars

I found this a thrilling and beautiful book, not least because of the exquisite collaboration between author, photographer and models. Being old and large I can wear only one or two garments presented in this book (with some adaptation) -- but there are plenty of things I could make for others! A pretty book like this is surely even more for inspiration than for the actual patterns. Teva's courage in pushing the envelope of traditional knitting makes me want to express myself in wearable art too, and she sets forth good directions for creative thinking. Think about planes, she says, think about tubes, think out of the box about what can be done with yarn and some needles, and get out of your rut!

Knitting most certainly isn't what it used to be. Many people who learned their knitting as young children fifty years or more ago have nostalgic feelings about the time everyday knitted garments were worn gratefully season after season by family members of all ages. This is not what knitting is about any longer. In fact, it is only because of talented younger enthusiasts like Teva Durham that knitting has undergone its current revival. People need to create with their hands and find it relaxing to escape into knitting, but they wouldn't continue to do it if the activity didn't produce fun, interesting things for themselves and their friends. Grandmother's grey botany wool cardigan is too boring, too hot with central heating everywhere, takes far too long to make with all its tiny stitches, and gets moth holes during the summer. So new and different things are needed - and a whole lot of them are suggested in this book.

However, knitting is knitting. You pull some loops through some other loops either backwards or forwards, and the technique itself leads to a repertory of pattern types that knitters have been using for centuries. So I take issue with the reviewer "Rosy" who thinks it's all been done before and the predecessors are not given acknowledgement. Of course it's been done before (and isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery?), but not in these shapes, with these colors and these yarns by these people living and breathing right now -- and showing such energy and beauty through the ancient craft of knitting.

Just as each generation needs its own, new translation of the Bible, and, indeed, of all the classics we anglophones read in translation, each art and craft also needs a re-incarnation in every generation. Why not stand back with grandmotherly pleasure and delight in the new knitting antic and prowess of the young? I love this gorgeous book with its bold and lively ideas, its sound design principles, and its absolutely wonderful photographs - and I love to think about all the talented young people involved in it! Let it be said of us oldies, "They also serve who only stand and [applaud]."

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Summary of Loop-d-Loop: More Than 40 Novel Designs for Knitters

The designs in Loop-d-Loop (for women, men, children, and the home) are fresh, modern, and eclectic, especially appealing to young knitters who like to set tradition askew and claim knitting as their own. At the same time, they are not so trendy as to turn off more traditional and/or older knitters, and the technical applications are so clever and unique that even advanced knitters are fascinated by them. Most of the designs - even those that may look complex--are actually fairly easy to create, providing gratifying learning and artistic experiences as well as fast results. Because of the strong technical nature of Loop-d-Loop, it is poised to last much longer than a simple collection of fashionable patterns and to become a standard reference within the knitting community.