Knit sweaters to LIVE in! Comfy pullover? Jacket cardigan? Weekend hoodie? Fitted turtleneck? Think of those sweaters you wear most often, the favorites you reach for again and again because they make you feel both confident and comfortable. Now imagine them hand knitted in soft, beautiful yarns in the colors of your choice. Each of the designs in this book is a versatile type of sweater everyone should own—all knit in classic stitches and featuring added details to make them unique. Sizes range from XS to XXL. Knitting tutorials and detailed instructions make the patterns easy to follow, so grab your needles and some gorgeous yarn and start filling your wardrobe with sweaters you’ll reach for again and again. With the 20 patterns in Essential Knit Sweaters , you will create the sweater collection of your dreams! Knitwear designer Ludwig debuts with an inspired collection of women’s sweater patterns. Each project includes instructions for sizes XS through XXL, making it easy to tailor garments for different body types. The items range in difficulty from easy to advanced; on the former end of the spectrum is the “easiest cardigan in the world,” which consists of rectangular blocks knitted in a ridge pattern and seamed together. Experienced knitters up for a challenge will be eager to create the “Allegra” sweater, the sleeves of which include intricate lace insert strips. The more traditional articles include a seamed “short-sleeved narrow summer top” primarily comprised of garter stitch with some ribbing, a top-down raglan hooded sweater featuring increases “worked at the sides to create an A-line shape,” and a “circular yoke sweater with simple cables.” Other projects use “contemporary construction methods,” as with a turtleneck sweater that doesn’t require seaming. The diversity of techniques finds abundant variety in the sweater form, and a detailed section covering knit and purl stitches and how to bind off provides a thorough refresher for knitters of all experience levels. This has much to recommend it. ― Publishers Weekly Knitwear designer Ludwig debuts with an inspired collection of women’s sweater patterns. Each project includes instructions for sizes XS through XXL, making it easy to tailor garments for different body types... The diversity of techniques finds abundant variety in the sweater form, and a detailed section covering knit and purl stitches and how to bind off provides a thorough refresher for knitters of all experience levels. This has much to recommend it. ― Publishers Weekly Sweater knitting is probably the pinnacle of knitting. Beginners look forward to the time when they can knit their first sweater, and many experienced knitters have whole wardrobes full of handknit sweaters (raises hand). Sweaters don't have to be complicated, and it doesn't take a lot to alter a basic pattern to add colorwork, change up a stitch pattern or otherwise make it your own. Essential Knit Sweaters by Frauke Ludwig is subtitled Patterns for every sweater you ever wanted to wear every day , which is a pretty bold claim, but nonetheless it contains 21 patterns with somewhat interchangeable features that gives you plenty of options and possible combinations to make a lot of great sweaters. The book opens with a lengthy section describing knitting techniques that might be needed in the patterns including casting on and binding off, making basic stitches, increasing and decreasing, as well as things like making buttonholes, changing colors, making swatches and finishing and caring for finished garments. A page on finding the correct size shows the standard measurements the designer used to size the patterns, which come in six sizes, ranging from a chest circumference of 33.8 inches/86 cm to 50.8 inches/129 cm. The numbers on the actual patterns vary quite a bit (the first two patterns in the book, for example, have size extra small as a chest circumference of 35.4 inches/90 cm and 32.3 inches/82 cm). Readers will need to consider their own measurements and how much ease they prefer in a garment when picking the appropriate size to knit. The patterns are generally pretty simple in design, opening with a trio of garter stitch projects worked flat in pieces (a boxy cardigan made only of rectangles, a fitted short sleeved top and a shorter cardigan with a collar and belt for tying. From there the book explores top-down raglans, circular yoke sweaters and other constructions (bottom up in the round, boatneck, deep round neck, V-neck cardigan, cropped cardigan with cable facings, and a curved hem to name a few). The projects are shown worked in neutral colors (black, white and gray) so that readers can imagine their own color palettes, add stripes or otherwise make it their own. Some of my favorites include Tiana, a hooded raglan with A-line shaping thats longer at the sides; Ulla, a cozy top-down cardigan with garter ridges; Marie, a circular yoke sweater with easy eyelets; Elise, a boxy