This, the Harmony Guides, is a canonical series of stitches and patterns for knitting. It, like the Barbara Walker Treasury series, are essential to knitters who want to move beyond knitting other people's patterns.

I understand that this version of the series is going out of print, to be replaced by a new series that is organized differently. I'll probably buy it too. ( )

The Harmony Guide to Knitting Techniques: The 'How-to' of hand knitting provides an overview of stitch basics, care of wool, finishing techniques, and basic garment construction. The have nice colored drawings of how needles should be held and the proper path for the yarn. It is a book from the 1990s so there is more text to read than one would find in a contemporary book. Note: this text was originally published in England, and uses some terminology not familiar to US knitters. ( )