Friday Review - Knitting Classic Style

Knitting Classic Style by Veronik Avery (September 2007)

Veronik Avery is a well known designer.  If you have been knitting for a while you have seen her designs in the knitting magazines. Her style has always been very classic with beautiful details.  They tend to be things you would find in an upscale boutique.  Nothing outrageous.  Nothing with lots of loud color. Just understated and elegant.

In this book she reinterprets classics taken from four themes - women's wear, menswear, ethnic costume, and sportswear or as she calls it - Fashion Mavens, Tomboys, Global Travelers and Thrill Seekers.  In this book, she is very much a "fashion" designer. All of these designs are based on specific iconic pieces none of which I was familiar with.  My only education in high fashion comes from Project Runway.

The formatting reflects the designer with clear pictures, complementary styling and beautiful models.  Projects instructions are also given for multiple sizes in great flattering lines. I do have an issue with the fact that two of the projects are knit in black.  Black does not photograph well.  It's hard to see the projects itself let alone the details.  Beautiful choice for an actual garment but not for a sample project.

Overall I am a bit meh on the book.  The garments are beautiful but the ones that interest me are so classic they would make a boring to knit.  Now don't get me wrong, I wear this type of clothing but I can find it in many stores and buy myself "classic" to save me the time since I want a bit of verve to my knitting projects. But if I ever had to knit my own wardrobe, this would be a great book.