Big Yarn, Beautiful Lace Knits

Lace has traditionally been knit in finer weight yarns to create airy, delicate designs. But when knit in bulky yarns, lace becomes bold, graphic, and dramatic.

We all know that working with thicker yarns also makes the projects work up more quickly and the lace repeats shorter. Using bulky weight yarn for knitting lace makes it easy to learn new stitches and techniques.

One of the things that you will learn from Barbara in this book is that not all yarns play well with lace knitting. Learn from Barbara’s experiments on how to pick the yarn that will be best for the lace work you would like to try. You will also learn how to read lace charts as the are a little different than some of the other knitting charts you might have seen before.

Walk through this book and study the tips and tricks of lace knitting and you will be ready to knit any of the 20 patterns for beautiful lacy shawls, mitts, hats, cowls, blankets, and more.

Synopsis: Lace has traditionally been knit in finer weight yarns to create airy, delicate designs. But when knit in bulky yarns, lace becomes bold, graphic, and dramatic. Working with thicker yarns also makes the projects move along more quickly and the lace repeats shorter, so it's easy to learn new stitches and techniques.
For those new to bulky yarns, in the step-by-step illustrated instructions that comprise "Big Yarn, Beautiful Lace Knits: 20 Shawls, Hats, Ponchos, and More in Bulky Yarn", Barbara Benson shows how these yarns work best in lace designs and provides tips and tricks for reading and executing lace patterns.
Gorgeous photography by Gale Zucker show the pieces to their full, stunning effect.
Critique: Thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Big Yarn, Beautiful Lace Knits: 20 Shawls, Hats, Ponchos, and More in Bulky Yarn" is an ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, and community library Needlecraft instructional reference collections. It should be noted that "Big Yarn, Beautiful Lace Knits" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.49).

Editorial Note: Barbara Benson is an independent designer, knitting instructor, and the author of "Mosaic & Lace Knits". Her designs are available online as well as in various books and publications. She teaches at both local yarn stores and national venues such as Interweave Yarnfest. Her love for teaching and talking about knitting can also be seen in the hundreds of videos on her popular YouTube channel "WatchBarbaraKnit."

Big Yarn, Beautiful Lace Knits will give you all the inspo you need to change up your shawl and accessories game. The premise is that if you zoom in on daintier lace patterns, you'll get an entirely different effect. That's what Barbara Benson, host of the popular YouTube channel "WatchBarbaraKnit," found when she began knitting lace with larger needles and zaftig yarns. In addition to dramatic time savings afforded by upsizing your materials, you'll discover new surface-design potential in the exaggerated stitches presented here. For example, Benson's Cinches and Ladders cowl uses big moves (double yarn overs and cinch-4 stitches) to create a graphic neck warmer knitted at 2.25 stitches to the inch. Un, Deux, Trois is a two-skein wonder that retains its lacy feel in spite of the supersized gauge. And the bold lace of Bitis will chase the chill of untamed air-conditioning all summer long. Use this as a primer to explore lace knitting on a larger, quicker scale or to lace up something fast.