Power Cables [Paperback]

For over two decades, Lily Chin has been one of the modern knitting world's greatest contributors. She is a consummate teacher, a prolific and spot-on technical innovator, a fine designer, and has so much energy and thinks at such a hummingbird speed that I doubt we have even seen half of what she will ultimately contribute. In this book, Lily gathers and presents her encyclopedic knowledge of cable knitting. Ever since 1989, when Lily first published an article about "Ribbles" in Knitters Magazine, she has been known as a choreographer of cables, someone who could make them do wonderful and never-before-imagined things. And this book, Lily's first on cables, combines her early innovations with the many cable acrobatics she has developed since.

So - what will you find in this marvelous book?

--A way of charting cable designs that is so obvious that I have no idea why we haven't always done it this way. Lily will teach the method to you in a few minutes, and you will never feel intimidated by a complex cable again. Plus, her method allows you to extract the essence of a design, then expand or shrink it to fit your needs. And it is all so simple that you won't even be able to forget it.

--A comprehensive and engaging tour of each family of cabling possibilities, from traditional to freshly minted, from non-reversible to fraternally reversible to identically reversible, from single color to multi-color, from plain to textured, from traveling stitches to mock cables.

--A collection of beautiful cabled stitch patterns which can be used as a stitch dictionary. Check out the sensuous reversible "Textured OXO Cables" on page 71.

--Illustrations that will switch on light bulbs in your brain: check page 125 to immediately see why raised wale cables are a natural playground, or see pages 46-47 to understand how to easily visualize the difference between front and back of reversible cables.

--A collection of stunning cabled designs, including a man's vest (page 92) which I would say is the most handsome man's garment I have ever seen; a sumptuous "Five-Way Cabled Shrug" (page 101) with clever and simple construction, the photo so soft it is hard not to pet the page; several luscious scarves (both reversible, with beautiful edges); an XOX raglan turtleneck pullover (page 58) with a background fabric that shifts in subtle ways; and one of my favorites, a bi-color Brioche Shawl (page 118) which is timeless, rustic, elegant, earthy, and twisting with life.

If you have never worked cables before, this book would be a marvelous start, and will grow with you for years and years to come. If you are an advanced knitter, this book will make your brain sizzle with happiness.

Janet Szabo, author of two superb cable books, wrote a moving foreword for Lily, saying that this book "will stretch the horizons of even the most experienced knitters." I agree, and I wish you hours upon hours and years upon years of exploring cables.

And thank you, Lily, for how you enrich the knitting world, for your witty and bright and clear instruction, and for your unstoppable intelligence and energy that lets you share so much of such value with others. You have written a classic.

Lily Chin is one of knitting's foremost designers and, for anyone interested in cable knitting, this is an exceptional book. You won't find it filled with pattern after pattern but what you will find is just about every type of cable and how to knit it.

The first chapter is dedicated to 'Understanding Cables'. Ms. Chin discusses how the book is organized and gives a basic cable primer. In this chapter are samples of many cables and a lovely sweater pattern.

The other chapters are: Wide-Rib Cables, Ribbed Reversible Cables, Textural Cable, Traveling Stitch Cables, Colorful Cable, Raised Wale Cables, and Phony Cables. She ends the books with a chapter on Cable Integration. Each chapter has at least one pattern and some have more. There is a beautiful man's vest and a lovely mitten and hat set. There are several beautiful shawls.

I wish there had been more patterns in the book but it is a wonderful resource and I will use it primarily for that. The photos of the different cables are sharp and easy to see. There are pictures of just about every cable you could encounter and ideas about how to use all of them. This book is definitely for them for the intermediate and more experienced knitter.

Thank you Ms. Chin.

Power Cables: The Ultimate Guide to Knitting Inventive Cables by Lily M. Chin is a definitive work on cables. The book may not be for the beginner at first glance, but if you want to learn the ins and outs of cables and really understand the engineering behind cables this book will do that. She investigates and explains cables, what makes them reversible, how to incorporate color into cables to make them stand out, how a knitter has to allow for the natural tendency of cables to draw in. In addition, Chin lays out a whole new way to chart cables.

When I first started to knit I went to a class offered by Ms. Chin. The class was about designing your own garments. Ms. Chin's teaching philosophy is about empowering knitters to examine their own creativity. This book tackles the technique of cables with the same eye to having the knitter understand why cables work the way they do so you can use them to your advantage.

One problem with this method is that the explanation is complicated and the book does not always make it clearer. The first chapter of the book talks about a new way to chart that is elegant and actually helps you visualize cables much better than traditional charts, but the patterns in the book use traditional charts and not the new ones Ms. Chin has just taught you.

The patterns in the book are unbelievably wonderful and fresh; probably worth working through the book's complications. I would not attempt them if you are a beginner unless you like a challenge.

Disclosure: Review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.