The Learn-to-Knit Afghan Book is a classic volume which was first printed in 1974 and has been reprinted by Schoolhouse Press.

This is a beginner's book with a difference. It provides basic instructions (text and line drawings) to teach how to knit, and then goes on to give the full pattern for an afghan consisting of 63 squares knitted in different stitch techniques and patterns. The ultimate aim of the book is that by the time you have knitted all the squares you will be familiar with all the stitch pattern techniques and will be able to knit any knitting stitch pattern which you acquire.

Any afghan is a huge undertaking and it is necessary before you even begin to choose the yarn to convert the pounds and ounces measurements so that you know how much to buy. Bearing in mind that this is going to be an heirloom item when finished, you will want to take care choosing yarn which is good quality but not too expensive.

The squares are individually photographed in black and white alongside their instructions, which are in line by line textual format. This was standard practice at the time the original book was published but may not suit some readers today. In addition, the author teaches the method of knitting holding the yarn in the left hand. This is a perfectly reasonable way to knit but you may find if you have difficulty and need to get someone to show you how to knit that it is difficult to find someone who knits in this way as many people in the UK and US learn to knit with the yarn in the right hand. However, the patterns would work for either method of knitting.

It is somewhat surprising that an author of the calibre of Barbara G Walker writes a book on knitting an afghan and does not provide the yarn stocking stitch tension which should be matched or the finished size of the afghan, but in this book that is the case. She does, however, tell you the weight of yarn to purchase (worsted) and the size of knitting needles you will need, so in this case lack of instructions on the required gauge should not be too much of a problem.

The book itself is produced in a handbag-sized paperback and so would be easy to carry around with your knitting project. Even if you did not want to knit all the squares you could use the stitch patterns provided for all sorts of projects, so this is a neatly produced compact book which is well worth adding to your bookshelf.

If you would like to buy Barbara G Walker's Learn-to-Knit Afghan Book it is available from Amazon.