Never having knitted anything before, I found the instructions and patterns in this books to be quite complicated and a bit too difficult to follow. That being said, for the more experienced knitter, this book reveals how to make some beautiful creations that are feminine and nicely detailed.

I received a cop of this book from NetGalley for a honest review.

Melissa Leapman's book Knitting Modular Shawls,Wraps, Stoles, is a wonderful book for those who want to create their own designs. It is well laid out and even though I'm a semi-beginner I can see the potential of this book and I get excited. I think that for me I would prefer this book in the physical book format because I would have to flip back forth between pages as I am creating. I would have also like if the pages that did have a design she had created to have all the information on that page, I didn't like how it was done at the end. But overall a truly fantastic book with great pictures and a lot ideas to get your creativity flowing.

There are so many knitting instruction books out there that it is becoming difficult to find new ideas. However, Melissa Leapman has succeeded in writing an excellent volume of interesting, interchangeable patterns for all levels of knitters of shawls, wraps or stoles. Knitters can design patterns by following instructions to combine sections. You will find patterns for triangles, horizontal insertions and borders which, when assembled, can provide unlimited possibilities. There are 212 patterns along with a glossary of knitting techniques, how to read knitting charts, a list of symbols and abbreviations and a metric conversion chart. This will make a great addition to your knitting library. Thank you to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book contains graphs and instructions for designing and knitting your own personalized wraps, stoles, and shawls. From basics to more complex combinations, it's easy to understand and follow. It's a perfect addition to any knitter's library, as well as an ideal gift for the beginning through advanced knitter in your life. 
I feel more confident navigating my own shawl knitting with this book in my arsenal. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a digital ARC of this book.

This amazing shawl design book takes you step by step through designing the shawl of your dreams. All suggested stitches are both charted and written so that even an advanced beginner will be able to work them with confidence. This book is a must-have addition to my knitting library, and I'm sure it will be used often!

This book is perfect for someone looking to take their shawl knitting to the next level. It does an excellent job describing construction and providing different pathways to design your own shawl.

Knitting shawls can seem daunting. I've met a lot of knitters of all sorts of proficiency, who complain about shawl knitting, especially the ones with a lace patterned body. 

This book makes shawl knitting understandable and easy to follow. Knitting a shawl is broken down into seven simple steps that the knitter needs to follow. Further, once you have understood those seven steps, you can mix and match from a multitude of forms, borders, edges, inserts, lace patterns, or simple textured pattern created by knits and purls. 

As daunting as knitting a shawl might seem, it is not. I'd recommend this book to any knitter who knows how to cast on, knit, purl, do a yarn over, do a kfb, or kfbf; but even if you don't know how to do all of those yet, this book will show you. It also explains how to read charts. Advanced knitters might find this book interesting, because it helps them create their own patterns, since each step of the construction is explained. 

There are a lot of projects with detailed pattern instructions, which you can use to explore different levels of shawl knitting, as well as, different shapes of shawls. 

A gem among knitting books.

This book is about shawls, wraps and stoles. They not only give models to follow, they show you different patterns that you can use and modulate to create your own knits. Great knitting book with interesting different styles of stitches for shawls.

I am a beginner knitter (of sorts) I should have assumed that the patterns would be primarily lacy which is not a personal style choice for me. For those people who like that style these are beautiful patterns. For my level of knitting I think these patterns are too difficult for me. I do not know many abbreviations, but i thought it was quite over whelming and complicated to use the book. I think its cleaver in the way you can some what design your own with selecting edging, shape etcetera. but going back and forth through the book seems complicated to me. This is not a book I would buy.

This is an excellent resource for knitters who want to learn how to design their own shawls.  The author provides a breakdown of the various components of the garment along with a variety of lace patterns for each section. She provides twenty sample shawls using “recipes” with selections for each component along with two projects with complete instructions to help the reader begin the design process.   The book is very well organized with clear instructions and excellent stitch sample photography.  With this book in hand, every knitter will have the tools necessary to easily undertake their own designs.  Highly recommended for public libraries and all knitting enthusiasts!

It can be overwhelming if you want to begin designing your own shawls. Melissa Leapman's newest book – a combination master class on shawl design and dictionary of over 200+ knitting stitches – will help you begin.

Her customizable technique steps the knitter through the different parts of a shawl to create unique new designs by building on wedges, stitch/texture, cast-on, border/edging, and bindoff. The first part of the book explains how to shape a shawl by combining different key parts. In addition, tips on yardage, lifelines, and charts to help determine which stitch multiples are best used for different silhouettes are included to help create success.

The second part is a stitch dictionary which is both written and charted. It is organized by the part of the shawl where the stitch will be used from edgings, wedges of different stitch counts, insertions, and borders. The complete designs that appear are explained and the various steps used are detailed. This is a valuable resource for the knitter looking to learn how to combine skills in new ways.

This review also appeared in issue 65 | deep fall 2018 of knitty.

I loved this book; I can see myself using this taking different parts from different modules to make my own, as well as the ones that are in the book. It was well presented, with photographs, diagrams and explanations and patterns.

Great collection of patterns, all can be mixed and matched so you can get some pretty unique projects.

A remarkable and original idea to create many different garments from a basic modul. Superb stitches given in detail, which could be used in other projects too. The stitches are fully written as well as charted. 

Modules are referred to as wedges, multiplied in size by different amounts of stitches.

As a reference book it’s excellent. Lots of illustrations, well photographed and in a well organised manner.

If you are a shawl knitter do discover this lovely new book.

#KnittingModularShawlswrapsandStoles #NetGalley #Fall2018

Perfect for this fall. This book contains a large collection of pattern to create warm shawls, colorful wraps, and amazing stoles. The tutorials are easy and the color suggested are wonderful. Also, Melissa shares awesome tips and techniques.

I really like the writer's style. This book was so informative and was able to show others how to really be a skillful and smart study of materials and how to transform them.

This book is very good and well organized yet easy to grasp. I gave an honest review in exchange for an ARC of this book.

This is a useful stitch reference that builds up to multiple shawl variations. Ideal if you like a particular shawl and want to modify the pattern to something that is more appealing. It is essentially a reference guide with projects. I did not feel the need to use the projects but liked the range of design variations that have been carefully categorised so it is easy for you to choose different patterns based on your original.
Aimed not at the beginner, this book could be a useful reference guide to designers and those who like to tweak their shawl patterns.

Melissa Leapman has carefully crafted Knitting Shawls, Wraps, and Stoles.  She introduces a plain triangle wedge and goes on to add wedges and patterns to build on it.  The result is a beautiful book with many possibilities for knitted shawls, wraps and stoles.  I especially like that specifics are given for the photographed garments.  The creative options are endless.  This is a great book for the knitter who is looking to create a customized design.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Storey Publishing, and Melissa Leapman for an ARC in exchange for a review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Shawls are one of the most versatile pieces you can have in your wardrobe. They are an excellent layering piece, can be worn many different ways and are easy to make. You can use almost any different yarn weight so you can use your special lace weight skein that you bought when you were somewhere special, or a worsted weight that you have laying around in your stash. They make beautiful gifts and the knitted shawls of today are not what your grandma used to make.

If you are new to knitting you might not know that Melissa Leapman is a very well known and prolific designer. Her patterns have been in all the major publications for both knitting and crochet. She has written many books herself, some of which I own and I really do love her designs. Part of wanting to check out this book was because I saw that she was the author. She does not disappoint. 

This book is truly amazing. There are so many components to it, so I’ll try and break it down for you. First she has 7 steps in creating the perfect shawl. First you choose your silhouette. She breaks down the shawl into the smallest component - the wedge. Then, depending on how you want your shape, you decide how many wedges you want. Two wedges creates the triangle shawl. Once you start adding on, there are different ways you can put the wedges together to get different shapes. You can use up to six wedges. The second step is the choose the stitch pattern. She has many in the book, but you can use any stitch you want, from any stitch pattern book. She has accounted for how to adjust to different number of stitches in the stitch pattern, so really anything can work. Then you decide on your background texture. Choosing between a knit background or a garter stitch background will really make a difference to the appearance of the stitch pattern. Step four asks you to choose your edging and step five a cast on tab, which goes hand in hand with the edging you have chosen. Step six means choosing a border and step seven a bind off and that completes the steps in constructing a shawl. You can choose a solid fabric or decide on a lacy, more openwork design, the choices are endless, but by breaking it into these easy steps nothing is overwhelming.

There are fixed patterns that you can follow step by step with picots of what the end product looks like. What is even better is that there is a gallery of shawls at the back set up so that you can see how each of the seven steps apply to each of the patterns. Simple substitution and small tweaks give you another jumping off point to creating your own design. Of course, you can be as creative as your imagination and remember, if you don’t like it, you can always undo it! There are no mistakes. I love that you can all take baby steps and get more creative as you become more comfortable with experience. There are many diagrams and charts that clearly help you map out what style you would like to make. Even with the most basic design, and a simple stitch pattern by simple changing one or two small elements like the border, or the edging, you can end up with a completely new looking shawl. The possibilities are endless!

This book is so easy to use, full of inspiration and really limitless in ideas,  I think it will become a staple that you will refer to many times for many years. I am so excited! I can’t wait to cast on my first project. Now hmmm, which yarn shall I choose??

Very creative, great pictures, charts and instructions.  This book will be a valuable asset to anyone who enjoys designing and knitting shawls, wraps and stoles.  I look forward to making some of the patterns in this book.