Cecelia Campochiaro: Reversible Knitting

Reversible Knitting takes a fresh look at reversible stitch patterns for hand knitting. By reversible, we mean both sides of the fabric look the same. Reversible Knitting includes a stitch dictionary with over 300 stitch patterns and extensive general information about working reversible fabrics. It has eight chapters:

Chapter 1, Fundamentals, looks at the essential elements of reversible knitting: the structure of reversible fabric and how the stitch patterns that produce it are developed. Chapter 2, Building Blocks, explores the one-row stitch patterns that are the foundation of reversible knitting.

Chapter 3, Modifiers, investigates the two most powerful modifications that can be brought to reversible stitch patterns: fine-striping and slip stitches.
Chapter 4, Allover Knit–Purl Patterns, expands the building blocks of one-row patterns with broken versions, doublets, damasks, welts, checkerboards, diagonals, and zigzags. Chapter 5, Slip Stitches, examines three categories of slip stitch patterns: wovens, grid patterns, and honeycombs.

Chapter 6, Openwork, is all about patterns with holes: meshes, garter lace, lace ribs, and allover lace patterns.
Chapter 7, Cables, includes mock cables, open mock cables, and true cables.
Chapter 8, Deliberate Distortions, collects patterns that use spaced increases and decreases to create movement in the fabric: chevrons, push-pull patterns, and egg carton patterns.

Every pattern in the book has a chart and row-by-row written instructions. While the dictionary is written for flat knitting, it is easy to use the charts to adapt any of the patterns to working in the round.

Some special highlights beyond the usual stitch dictionary include:

• ● A collection of reversible selvedges in Chapter 1

• ● A comprehensive look at the one-row pattern in Chapter 2

• ● How to make a reversible basketweave pattern in Chapter 4

• ● Incredible, deeply textured slip-stitch patterns in Chapter 5

• ● An in-depth look at reversible mock cables and cables in Chapter 7

• ● And much, much more...

  Reversible Knitting is intended to be a true “handbook” in the sense that it is smaller, lighter, and feels good in the hand. By going with a sewn binding, a softcover, and a jacket, the book will open flat, be easier to carry, and the jacket can do double duty as a book mark. This is a reference book to take with you on a vacation when you want to plan your next knitting project.

  Author Bio:
  Cecelia Campochiaro appeared on the knitting scene in 2015 with her debut book, Sequence Knitting. Knitting was a casual pastime until she had an ah-ha moment in 2010 and realized that interesting textured fabrics could be created by the simple repetition of a sequence of stitches. This idea evolved and led to her writing Sequence Knitting, which is a reference book about this mindful approach to knitting. In 2020 Cecelia released Making Marls. Making marls, the act of working multiple strands together as one, is an old technique, but has rarely been written about as an important technique in handknitting. By holding yarns of different colors or textures together while knitting, knitters can create their own yarn and color combinations to create endless possibilities. Reversible Knitting is Cecelia's latest book and began as a sequel to Sequence Knitting. In this book she tackles how to create a wide range of patterns that look the same on both sides. While there are other books that have been published on this subject, none are as comprehensive. Cecelia lives in Silicon Valley, where for many years she developed specialized microscopes used in computer chip manufacturing. Textiles, photography and the arts have been a lifelong passion running in parallel with her technical life. In high school and college even though her main studies were in the sciences, she studied drawing, printmaking, ceramics, and photography. Today she is fully dedicated to the fiber world and “unventing” new ways to make amazing knit fabrics.