Top-Down Knit Sweaters

Corrina Ferguson is a knitwear designer and former editor of Creative Knitting Magazine. She is known as PicnicKnits on Ravelry, Instagram, Twitter, and has her own website, picnicknits.com. She has been designing for over 10 years and has over 200 patterns to her credit, including those in her first book, Warm Days, Cool Knits.

Do you remember that advert from years ago, I think it was for razors, where the man said he liked the product so much, he bought the company? Well I liked this book so much I bought it!The first chapter is a quick run-through of what top-down knitting is and what you will need to make a top-down sweater. The style of the writing is friendly and informal and that continues through the book. The contents are a mix of sweaters, a waistcoat, cardigans, short-sleeved summer tees and jackets. Some have cables, some are plain, and some have little lace or colourwork on them. There are a few interesting twists on the yoke - you may well be imagining these from my description of the contents.There is a combination of written instructions and charts and there are schematics for each pattern. The yarn appears to be from the USA but there is a description of them and a list of how many metres to a ball, so that ought to help anyone substituting with UK yarns.I should say that all the models are youngsters, in their late teens I would imagine: the garments all look wonderful on them. Yet they are not so youthful looking that I could not see a large middle-aged woman wearing some of them quite happily. I think the book would definitely suit those with teenagers to knit for. Although some of the patterns are a little complex, any competent knitter would, I believe, feel able to make any of these patterns. I found it a cheerful, bright and breezy read and it really made me want to create some of the garments, hence buying a copy of the book for myself.