If you’re serious about knitting, The Knitter’s Dictionary will be as important to you as needles or yarn. Every aspect of knitting, from simple beginnings like slipknots, to complex stitches like the Icelandic yoke (lopapeysa), is covered, but more importantly, plenty of clear, concise illustrations accompany well-written directions. I’m a hands-on learner — I usually need an experienced teacher to show me what to do and how to do it, rather than demos from a book or video — but the Knitter’s Dictionary patiently walked me through several advanced stitches I hadn’t learned from teachers. This deceptively tiny blue book explains how to read a yarn label, demonstrates different types of cast-ons, provides detailed directions for interpreting stitch pattern instructions and symbols, recommends specific yarns for projects, lists care for particular fibers (hemp requires machine washing & drying to soften), illustrates a variety of knitting methods, and lists good reasons to swatch. In other words, thank your lucky stars Kate Atherley fled the tech industry, because she’s written the book that demystifies knitting and should be tucked in every yarn bag. You’ll have to wrest mine from my cold, dead, fuzz-covered fingers.