Beginner Knitting Books Are Not Always 'Beginner Friendly'!

There are a lot of knitting books out there that claim to be for the beginner knitter, but I beg to differ. 

I feel that many knitwear designers,  may have forgotten what's it like to be a 'beginner', when even the most simple of stitches can seem a challenge and everything is so confusing that you wonder if you will ever be able to complete even a 'simple scarf'

I picked up a copy of a book by Val Pierce, entitled 'Love Knitting, 25 Simple Projects to Knit. Val, is a long established knitting expert, who has designed patterns for knitting magazines and has several other books under her belt. the main focus being toys.

I  expected someone with this amount of experience to understand the difficult journey of a beginner knitter, working alone without guidance.

This was the not the case at all.

This is a not a book for the less experienced knitter. 

My sample of the blackberry stitch

I've been knitting for some time and I was quite surprised to see that one of the first few projects in the book, a 'clutch' bag was marked as suitable for beginner. 
The stitch pattern for this knit, is known as a 'blackberry stitch' (how many beginners have heard of this?) 
The first row of this stich is to purl, easy enough you might say, but then the complications set in. 
The second row after knitting the first stitch, the instructions were to *m3, which involves 'k1, p1, k1' altogether as one stitch. An awkward stitch, that requires concentration to get it right.  
I doubt very much whether a beginner could manage this without considerable difficulty! This was then swiftly followed by P3 together, again awkward for a beginner. This pattern was repeated to the end of the row. And so this fiddly pattern then had to be worked until it measures 28cms in length.

The suggested wool colour for the 'clutch bag' was black. Not a colour that is simple to use even when the pattern is east. You need good daylight and eyesight, to avoid mistakes when using 'black'. I certainly would avoid it if you are 'beginner' knitter.

Another pattern supposed to be beginner friendly is a 'baby blanket'. Whilst it is mainly in garter stitch, there is also lots of slipping the knitting onto 'stitch holders', picking them up later and changing yarn colours several times. I can imagine a beginner would find this pattern, a bit of a nightmare too.

Another pattern for a beaded denim belt has instructions for yfwd 5 times. Not easy at all for a new knitter who is only just getting the hang of knitting and purling rows.

 So do be wary of knitting books titled 'Beginner.' It's probably best to buy from a good old fashioned book shop, rather than online. In this way, you'll be able to browse the patterns first and see whether you are able to manage the knitting involved. 

And as a result, you'll  not only save your hard earned cash, but a lot of frustration and your 'valuable' time of course!.