White, Sarah. Picture Yourself Felting Your Knitting. Boston: Course Technology, 2008.

Picture Yourself Felting Your Knitting: Step-by-Step Instruction for Perfectly Felted Crafts by Sarah E. White is a book about … felting. Felting is something many of us have done by accident and some of us by design. This book takes out all of the mystique and walks you through felting step-by-step.

To begin with the book is part of a series called Picture Yourself published by Course Technology of Cengage Learning. The series are how to’s on a variety of topics and they have expanded into arts and crafts. Ms. White starts with an introduction, history, how felting works, ways to felt, some felting patterns, variations, tips, and resources. The book has excellent pictures which illustrate each of the steps to be taken. Having the pictures handy make the process of felting easy to follow.

The book is excellent for many reasons the pictures are just the first. Because Ms. White explains how felting works the reader understands why they are taking the steps they are taking. In addition, in some of the chapters she includes a section called Knitting Skills. These skills are necessary to complete the felting process, and by their inclusion here you won’t have to search out another book. The book explains for the novice, but I suspect experts could learn a thing or two, simply what is necessary to complete a felting project from start to finish.

In separate sections Ms. White states, a knitter refresher course, what you need and why, and many various ways to felt. The book gives a lot of detail and along with the pictures is a valuable resource for those who are interested.

As an owner of many different knitting books, I’ve noticed they often lack clear illustrations or the explanations are confusing, but in Picture Yourself Felting Your Knitting that is not a problem. For example, in the chapter Knitting the Variegated Scarf, the materials are listed and the knitting instructions stated clearly. This is followed by the felting instructions broken down into two sections: Getting ready and The Felting Process. In addition, there are scattered throughout the book tips. These tips often acknowledge there are other ways of doing the process she just described, but Ms. White states why she has chosen the process she chose.

One of the best features of the book is actually at the end where the author lists many yarn types, swatch specifications, beginning size, finished felted size and the time to felt. You can find yarns that she suggests felt well and learn what to substitute when necessary. Whether you are just starting out in felting or want to learn more about felting this book is a great place to begin.