Beginning knitters know the basic stitches, and they feel comfortable making simple projects like garter-stitch scarves and baby blankets. But when they see other knitters making shaped pieces like sweaters, mittens, socks, and slippers, those skills seem far out of reach. They don't feel ready to even try. The divide that exists between beginners, who are bored but comfortable, and those confident knitters making any project they please is actually not a big gap. But it definitely exists, and it's keeping millions of knitters from experiencing the joy and confidence that comes with having mastery of their craft.
Liat Gat calls this divide the "gap of intermediate fundamentals," and it consists of the ability to read any pattern, choose the right yarn, "read" knitted fabric, work from charts, and do intermediate stitches like cables, lace, and shaping. Without these skills, new knitters end up going years before they can progress to harder projects, if they ever progress at all. They end up learning bad habits, spending too much money on the wrong yarn, and feeling bored with their knitting repertoire.
With the variety of learn-to-knit guides out there, it is amazing that there are no good follow-up books to ready knitters for the next step. The intermediate fundamentals are the most crucial and the most overlooked of all knitting techniques, and they are the focus of this book.
