Adventure Cables is a fresh look at cables alone and in combination with other knitting techniques designed by Meghan Jones. Due out 1st Sept 2021 from Rowman & Littlefield on their Stackpole imprint, it's 208 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
This is a colorful, well designed, graphically appealing book full of knitted cablework with symmetric and asymmetric surface manipulated stitches in combination with colorwork, mosaic, stranded stitches and several other techniques. The author has an easy-to-understand style and the cable design instructions are given in both written and charted versions. In addition, the author has filled the book with useful tips and tricks for saving time (and sanity) during knitting. For me, the extra tips and guidance was worth the price of the book in addition to all the really pretty and deceptively difficult looking designs.
The introduction covers some basic techniques, but the book presupposes a general familiarity with the *basic* knitting techniques: how to read a chart/instructions, cast-on/off, knit, purl, working in the round, increase/decrease, shaping, short row shaping, and similar. I wouldn't say that this book is beyond beginners, but it would be best to have a knitting friend/guru to consult in case of confusion. Actually, I strongly recommend having a knitting friend no matter *what* level of expertise one is.
The technique chapters which follow the introduction are full of short technique mini-tutorials on reading charts, reading the individual charts in this book, cabling without a cable needle (where feasible), gauge alterations & sizing, and picking up stitches around an armhole. Mini tutorials are explained well and contain multiple clear color photos showing the technique with stitches on the needle without the model's fingers in the way (hallelujah!).
The following chapters contain the full patterns, grouped thematically: crossings with texture stitches, crossings with lace stitches, crossings with cabled stitches, mosaic, and stranded stitches. Each chapter contains 3-5 individual full projects as well as an in-depth tutorial mini-class highlighting a technique used in the chapter. Patterns contain multiple color pictures of each project and shaping/pattern details also have clear illustrations to follow. Instructions contain tools and supplies in a bullet style list (measurements are given in inches and metric measurements - thank you!) followed by step-by-step instructions and necessary charts. Specified yarn descriptions for each pattern also contain yardage/meter measures so readers can substitute if desired. The difficulty is listed in the pattern (explore/intermediate, adventure/advanced intermediate, and be brave/experienced).
There are socks, wraps, pullovers, accessories, and shawls aplenty and they all have moderate to huge wow factor. These are the sort of projects knitters make and wear to those knitting-get-togethers and knitting fairs (you know we do). I love that the projects are photographed on a wide variety of body types and the models are a wide range of ages. They're definitely not all waifish and willowy, photographed on an Irish coast looking off into the middle distance over the waves (yes, Rowan, I'm looking at you).
I knitted up several swatches preparatory to settling on one project, and I didn't find any mistakes in the instructions (I had one hiccup and that was user error on my part).
Five stars. This is one of the better knitting books I've read this year.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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