Knitted Tams [Paperback]

This review is in part an answer and a rebuttal to karen a lothrop's one-star review (see below).

Mary Rowe has produced a book full of history, a bit of anthropology, knitting, and lots of tam o'shanters! Within this specialization, wonderful information is given covering all aspects of knitting one of these articles, from the materials required, to the shape and construction of the item, to the stitch patterns available and their adaptability to tams. Any confident intermediate knitter will benefit greatly from this work.

That said, certain issues ARE assumed. This is most certainly NOT a book on how to knit, nor even a book on how to knit hats. It is a book on how to knit tams, TAMS! In order to knit an essentially flat, circular piece, some familiarity with both circular needles and double-pointed needles is necessary, for example.

A circular needle loses its usefulness when the circumference of the knitting becomes too small for the needle. Given the variance of yarn weight, needle size, and individual knitting tension (gauge) in the world, it is impossible for the author to anticipate every situation and guess when this point will be reached. A specific criticism of Ms Lathrop's is "she doesn't tell you when to switch from circular to double pointed". She then lists Elizabeth Zimmermann as an example of a knitting author whom she prefers. Mrs Zimmermann's own instruction on this matter, however, is simply, "Naturally you will have had the wit to change to the four needles when the circular needle became unmanageable." (KNITTING WITHOUT TEARS, by Elizabeth Zimmermann, ©1971) In other words, when you can't stand it anymore, change! In Britain, where double-pointed needles that are over ten inches long are more readily available than in America, the entire tam is knitted with them, dispensing with the circulars altogether.

Buying a crafting book is a tricky business. Both the skill level addressed and the subject matter covered vary greatly, and the nature of the patterns and instructions given (if any) will correspond to this variance. The general tone of Ms Lothrop's review suggests disappointment that this book did not help her.

Ms Lothrop has my every sympathy. It is frustrating and disheartening to search for a specific reference work, only to find that you don't understand it (or that it doesn't apply). Nevertheless, every book has its intended audience. It is unfair to blame the book if you discover that you are not part of that audience. (For example, I found a knitting book on scarves and shawls that was criticized by a user for being about scarves and shawls. In other words, the user wished that it had some other garments as well.)

Perhaps what is really needed is a more reliable way of assessing a book's appropriateness to one's needs before purchase.

This book gets high marks for taking the time to explain the basic construction of the tam. From there it goes on to discuss how various parts of the tam can be modified for different effects. The knitter begins to understand the 'why' of things much more quickly with this approach. I was able to follow the concepts easily and make several tams without any prior experience with circular or pointed needles. I did not give 5 stars however because there are several major errors in the modified instructions for larger gauge yarns. These are frustrating if the instructions are followed blindly although it becomes obvious pretty quickly where the mistakes lie (e.g. factor of 2 off in a calculation, repeat asterisk in the wrong place). I recommend going over all calculations for the larger gauge yarns thoroughly. These really need to be corrected in a later edition.

Because not only are these hats cute and flattering on nearly anybody, but they are terrific projects on which to learn color knitting technique. This book teaches you to make the traditional Fair Isle tam and has some lovely, flower-like patterns to knit. It's fun just to look at this book, but even more fun to make the hats. The moment you take the hat off the dinner plate where you are blocking it into a flat, circular shape, and put it on your head is one you won't want to miss as a knitter.

Tams are knit circularly, and use both circular needles and double point needles. A series of decreases shapes the hat. They use traditional Fair Isle patterns like OXO's or peeries (small designs of short repeating patterns.) If you choose one of the many delightful shades of Shetland yarn available in 3 oz skeins, you can make a minor masterpiece of shading, color and pattern.

If you intend to embark on a fair isle sweater, or just love the look of Fair Isle but want a quicker project, this book is just invaluable.

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