Review of Mother-Daughter Knits

I received a review copy of Mother-Daughter Knits by Sally Melville and her daughter Caddy Melville Ledbetter. Mother-Daughter Knits is a book that is not about knitting for mothers and daughters, but written by a mother and a daughter each with a unique perspective. The idea is interesting and seeing a daughter inspired by, but not stifled by her mom is a great way to see knitting through two generations eyes.

I love to knit, but generally knit other peoples patterns, and this book for me is about the creative process. In my knitting guild I love hearing the story that goes with the item, the story about why the knitter chose to make it, what problems they encountered, how they dealt with the problems and what became of it after it was completed. This book, Mother-Daughter Knits offers all of that information. It is a story of a daughter who learned to knit young, but didn’t take to it until she was in mid-twenties and her mother who has knit for 50 plus years and who has been designing for much of that time. The patterns come with a "story" and that story is often why and how the design came about. In addition to the pattern story, there is the story of the designers, this wonderful mother and daughter team.

The intermediate/advanced patterns are written by Melville, and the beginner/intermediate patterns are written by Ledbetter. The patterns are flattering and cover the range of skill sets and styles. The sweaters are generally shaped rather than boxy, and the designs youthful, but not likely to go out of style quickly. In a previous article I talk about choosing a pattern wisely and what is stylish today is not always stylish tomorrow, so I appreciate a book with more classic designs. If you are a person who likes cutting edge designs this book might not appeal to you, but the designs are solid and well written. This book might also appeal to someone who is looking for a gift for a knitter of any skill level.

As with all books, there can be problems with the patterns and Melville has included corrections on her webpage.