My Knitting Book

Lambert, MissProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 93K words
Chapters: 10

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.My Knitting Book by Miss LambertAuthor: Lambert, Miss (F.),Language: English, Class: TT: Technology: Handicrafts, Arts and crafts, Release Date: Aug 22, 2010

Editor's review

My Knitting Book, attributed to Miss Lambert, is a collection of knitting patterns and belongs among the handicraft public-domain e-books digitized by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies not in literary narrative but in preserving an original record of nineteenth-century knitting techniques: stitch instructions, pattern charts and the uses of finished articles, reflecting the everyday face of domestic handicraft at the time. For today's readers the book serves both as a historical reference for knitting enthusiasts and as a way to observe how early technical texts described hand movements in words. Some knitting experience is needed, because the original terminology and abbreviations do not fully match modern knitting books, and some stitches must be inferred from context. It is better browsed as a reference or hobby book than read from cover to cover. If you are interested in craft history, material culture or vintage knitting, this small book offers plain and concrete primary material.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Enthusiasts with knitting experience who want to learn about nineteenth-century stitch and pattern records
Readers interested in craft history, material culture or vintage living
People needing public-domain handicraft material for reference or teaching
Readers who like browsing pattern collections and picking small projects by interest

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners needing modern step-by-step illustrated instruction
General readers expecting literary reading or continuous narrative
Readers unfamiliar with English knitting terms who are unwilling to check them

Reading tips

Skim the contents and stitch instructions first, try one or two short patterns, then decide whether to read the whole book.
Prepare a glossary of modern knitting terms to read alongside; check any abbreviation before you start knitting.
Use the book as a reference and dip into it by pattern type or finished use rather than reading in order.
When trying a pattern, practise unfamiliar stitches with scrap yarn first, then use your proper yarn once you are sure you understand.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for knitting beginners?

Not really for complete beginners. The original is nineteenth-century knitting instruction, its terms and abbreviations differ from modern tutorials, and it lacks step-by-step illustrations. Experienced knitters can use it alongside a modern glossary; beginners should learn from a modern introductory course first and come back to this later.

Can the patterns in the book still be knitted today?

Most stitch principles still apply, but the yarn, needle sizes and finished measurements are described in period terms and cannot be followed directly. Try a small swatch first, adjust needle size and tension for modern yarn, and then decide whether to complete a piece from the original pattern.

Is this the English edition, and is it hard to read?

It is an English public-domain e-book. The language itself is not complex; the difficulty lies in knitting terms and abbreviations. With basic English and a willingness to check terms, the obstacles are manageable; readers wholly unfamiliar with English knitting vocabulary will find it hard going.

Comments

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About the author

Lambert, Miss Author

Miss Lambert is an author about whom very little is publicly known: her full English name, nationality, and dates of birth and death cannot be verified, and only three works are currently recorded. Judging from their titles, her writing centres on hand knitting and crochet, with representative works including My Knitting Book (in two versions) and My Crochet Sampler. These titles suggest a strongly practical, personal character, pointing to pattern collections, stitch demonstrations, or records of sample pieces intended for crafters who work with their hands rather than for theoretical discussion. In the absence of prefaces, biographical notes, or other corroborating sources, it is difficult to determine when or where the books were produced, or whether they were reprinted or widely circulated. On the whole, Miss Lambert may be regarded as a woman writer of handcraft guides in the English-speaking world around the nineteenth century, whose works offer useful texts for understanding how knitting skills were transmitted at the time, though information about the author herself remains sparse.