Sweaters Books

I just took a peek at this book yesterday evening at my LYS. The patterns in this book are uniquely clever. The photos of these pooches are adorable. I can't wait to make the hat and scarf set for my little pup. Too Cute!!

I've been knitting for 7 years, and most of that time I've knit dog sweaters. This book not only has darling photos of cute dogs modeling the patterns, it's extremely well-written. I like that Corinne gives yardage for each pattern, not just a particular yarn. The section on combining colors has been liberating for me; you never could have convinced me that purple and green look good together when linked with orange, but it resulted in a stunning little sweater.

I'll continue to use this book again and again. My dog thanks you, Corinne!

This book is terrific. The patterns are clear and easy to follow, the book is bright and the dogs pictured are adorable! It has come out just in time for me to finish projects for the holiday gift season. Can't wait to see my friends and family putting these cute outfits on their dogs.

The reasons I love this book are:
- very well explained techniques
- author is a perfectionist and teaches tips to make a well constructed and well finished project
- the author clearly had her hands in every phase of the creation of this book and you feel her personality in it everywhere
- worsted weight (much warmer and easier to work with) yarns are used in the project
- there are truly beautiful designs for every level of knitter
- variety in the projects - I am just finishing the sweet little hat and scarf plus there is a bed pouch, collar cover, bandana
- tips on dyeing your own wool using powdered drink mixes adds a nice creative touch

As long as you don't mind learning to use circular needles in a way you may never have tried - and can use pictorial diagrams (I'm still getting my head around the techniques) - you'll be ready to create some beautiful warm sweaters for all your furry kids.

I just got this book and it's wonderful. There are some great new techniques and some really cute new designs. The hat with holes for the ears and an attached scarf to wrap around is so adorable. I can't wait to knit that one. There is also a new snuggle bed pattern that I'm sure my cat will love. If you like pet knits, this one is worth the money for sure.

I just want to confirm the other reviews here. This is a great book with sweaters that are fun to make and equally fun to wear. The first book had even better designs, but it's very hard to find.

This book, like Big Knits, has some really nice patterns. Many are easily adjustable lengthwise, and some are adjustable width-wise as well if you have some knitting experience.

Most, however, would require some serious adjustment if you wanted to knit them in a smaller size, because the larger motifs in these sweaters go completely from side to side (as opposed to the sweaters in Big Knits, where the larger motifs in some patterns had at least a couple inches on each side of plain bordering to work with), and it would be easy to distort the picture composition (unless you don't mind chopping off part of it).

Don't let the above discourage you, however--the larger picture motifs would also look great done up as a baby blanket, or afghan, or as a pillow.

Good book for anyone's knitting library.

This book, and "Big Knits" before it (very hard to find) has the best collection of sweaters REAL people want to wear. I am not a larger size but ajust the sweaters downward because they're so great. I have made more sweaters from these two books than the rest of my patterns/books combined. When are they going to publish another collection???

Knitwear with humor, bold colors and relaxed fit are within your grasp with this book. With an average finished chest size of 56" these sweater designs look good on everyone with full figures. The photos are superb, the diagrams and written instructions are easy to understand and information is provided to help you change the length and width of sweater parts to fit your figure. Dawn French (of the "French and Saunders" comedy team) adds her sense of mirth and models these bold sweaters with joy. A delightful book that's sure to inspire your own design creativity!

If you knit and are shaped more like a sheep before sheering than after -- the 2 Dawn French books (Big Knits, and Great Big Knits) are what you've been looking for.

The biggest regret is that they are all but impossible to find.

I do the math tricks on all kinds of patterns so they will adjust to fit ME and all those out there like ME -- but in these books, the design is actually intended for my shape -- and not for a 14-year-old 3/4" dowl-rod model. Not only are the patterns measured up to fit, but the patterns on the sweaters are measured up as well. Who wants to wear a 3X sweater with thousands of tiny 1/4" roses on it?

The artist-inspired sweaters are expecially noteworthy, as well as the open-work lace styles and the sailor stripes.

Too bad the publishers don't know a good thing when they've got it and put out a new edition!!!

This book has a gentle..FEEL GOOD quality to it. I think that any family would enjoy its warmth and charm. FIVE STARS.

I am a GUIDANCE COUNSELOR and will be adding this series of books into our school programming! They are very expressive and well-written. They truly do have a great take-away-message ...this one is to make sure that you can give someone, who may be feeling down, a smile or touch..little things mean a lot! I want to portray this sensitivity to our children...and also help them understand that it is "what's on the inside that matters most" not what's on the outside. Thanks to the author....five stars for this great book! *****

5 STARS!***** This book is so fun loving! We own Sphynx Cats and really love the stories this author writes! The vibrant colors and drawing of the SPHYNX CATS are so beautiful. There aren't enough books out there for WE SPHYNX LOVERS..and this book is delightful. A must see for ANY CAT LOVER!
THIS IS PUURRRRRFECT! Five stars!!! *****

My whole family loved this book! My niece is going through chemo therapy....and we have eleven kids in the family. My husband found this book online and bought eleven copies to give to every child(my five kids and the other cousins)..including BELLA AND GIZMOS ADVENTURES...THE HAIRLESS SPHYNX CATS. These books helps the kids realize the difficulty that SARAH(my niece) endured, when she had to go and pick out her new wig (her hair, as Sarah calls it).. the adventure is fun and and has a very happy ending. All the kids in our family loved the books and drawings! I suggest BUYING THIS BOOK for any child ill or WELL! Also, you need to purchase BELLA AND GIZMOS ADVENTURES> THE HAIRLESS SPHYNX CATS....this talks about being different....and what's on the inside that matters, not the loss of your hair! SARAH loved this book, and so did all the kids! We can't wait to purchase the BELLA and GIZMO stuffed animals in SEPT., when available. WE LOVE THESE BOOKS! FIVE STARS TO BOTH! THANKS!

I thought book one was great.....you need to BUY BOOK TWO for sure! My daughter just adores this book. The illustrations are fantastic and the story is precious! There aren't that many books that deal with 'real life issues', like getting a new wig. This books is so complex, yet so simple. I love the verbiage the author uses and my daughter just fell in love with LUCY the beagle..as well as BELLA and of course, GIZMO! YOU MUST GET THIS BOOK FOR YOUR FAMILY.....any child would love this story! FIVE STARS!! BUY THE BOOK NOW!

The book was received promptly and in excellent condition. Great design ideas and technical information.

This is a really great instructional book for cables and such. The pictures are well done and the patterns are easy to follow. This is a great book for anyone as crazy about knitting as I am.

Just paging through the book for the first time and already I am planning projects - it's fabulous! Well laid out and easy to understand. Great information and the patterns are wonderful. A classic!

I ordered this book several years ago from Amazon.de in the original German version and was not disappointed. It contains several very attractive(and wearable) gansey type sweater patterns for men and women, and also features many gansey stitch patterns (and combinations of patterns),enabling the knitter to design her own gansey. This is one of my favorite knitting books, along with the author's previous gansey knitting book, "Pullover fuer Wind and Wetter" (sweaters for wind and weather) which, unfortunately, is no longer available. This is a very small price to pay for a wonderful book that will result in many beautiful and classic sweaters.

I own this author's earlier work in German on this subject plus several other books no longer available. She begins with a short history followed by information on gussets and shaped armholes. The information on how to begin a sweater is well illustrated. The first two sweaters are easy ones followed by 5 more very beautiful sweaters all of which have charts and schematics. The last half of the book is devoted to the various patterns also well illustrated and with charts. Finally initials are charted out and yarn sources and a short bibliography. The only problem I can see is that the sweaters in the book are knit with German yarns which might be hard to find so the author has suggested American and English yarns which she says will work in these patterns. In general the yarns used are special for these sweaters. They are generally dk weight but they are knit up tighter on smaller needles so the knitter has to get her gauge first in order to make them properly. However, the yarns made in England are the traditional ones so hopefully there won't be any problems. There are two other books on Amazon on this topic: Knitting ganseys by Beth Brown-Reinsel and Gladys Thompson Patterns for guernseys, jerseys and arans. While both of them are very good this one seems easier for the beginner to this topic so I highly recommend it. The book is very well printed with nice color photos throughout.

Great patterns and lovely designs make this book a must-have for knitters who want to do something more intricate than basic, fast knit sweaters. Ms. Goodwin's down-to-earth, don't be afraid attitude is refreshing but I feel you must read and understand her notes before you start knitting. She talks in a knitter to knitter style and I believe she expects her readers to know the basics. The patterns aren't terribly difficult but do require patience and a personality that enjoys a challenge. You WILL be rewarded.

I'm 13 years old and learned to knit when I was 9. I can knit these patterns and you don't even have to sew seams when you are done knitting. I think kids and adults will enjoy these patterns, besides, they are cute and in style.

After 3 days agonizing over the syntax in this book--(I'm a visual handicraft learner)-- I saw the light. And.. because I kept knitting and knitting, I saw that I was actually doing it right.

There are a number of confusions here-- how many markers to use; what happens next; etc. The writer knows how to knit so well, she assumes we all will just "get it". Even assumes we know circular knitting comes out the same as stockinette stitch, even tho' we don't purl any rows. I didn't know!

I didn't just "get it"-- I even wrote Mary an email and am waiting for help.

All in all, when one is writing so-called simple knitting patterns, the author must always put herself in the shoes of the most thick-headed of learners. Language has to be considered carefully, and at times, it isn't here.

Now that I "get it", I like the book. But, it was frustrating at first...And.. I have more than a basic knowledge of knitting-- it's just that I have never knitted a seamless garment before.

I hope when this book is revised, that the author takes more time with her explanatory language-- and gives these patterns to other knitters besides the local knitshop denizens to peruse. The simplistic learners are out there-- and we appreciate clear, concise language. Yes.. we have to read "next, you do this-- and it will look like this; and then next, you do this..." so on and so forth. That's an easy pattern.

But.. I've just ordered this authors children's sweater book.. So.. there is a light at the end of the tunnel. :-) I eventually figured it out. And.. I do like this book. I realize that it really is the most simple of seamless patterns-- compared to the others I've seen.

Patricia Dumas NJ

Great patterns and lovely designs make this book a must-have for knitters who want to do something more intricate than basic, fast knit sweaters. Ms. Goodwin's down-to-earth, don't be afraid attitude is refreshing but I feel you must read and understand her notes before you start knitting. She talks in a knitter to knitter style and I believe she expects her readers to know the basics. The patterns aren't terribly difficult but do require patience and a personality that enjoys a challenge. You WILL be rewarded.

This book has everything and more to inspire you to knit with many, many colors. Be prepared to spend a lot of time making these glorious knits, they are beautiful. A great book.

Kaffe Fassett has taken inspiration for his patterns from the world around him, walls, roofs, food, the sky, you name it he's considered it for one of his patterns.
The results of some of these considerations are 35 patterns of easy wearing clothes that are easy on the eyes as well. Beautiful color combinations on charted designs make the clothes visually appealing as well as tactically from the yarn that is suggested.
And that's the only drawback I see with this book, if you don't use the recommended yarn, some of which is quite expensive, you don't get the color shadings shown in the book. The garments are still attractive and comfy but just not quite what I'd hoped for. Still, due to the design and attractive charting, I'll be knitting other items from the book.

I first saw this book in the late 80's at a friend's house. One look at the cover and I was hooked. That yellow star jacket had me so wowed I had to learn to make it. This one book was an epiphany for me. I started knitting and have never looked back. My second ever sweater was that yellow star jacket on the cover.

I have also knit the Jack's Back sweater. In both cases, I did NOT use the specified yarns. Instead, I made up the colors based on the pictures and yarns I already had. The results were quite successful. For those knitters out there with huge stashes like I now have, this book is ideal for color play and stash busting of oddment yarns. All you need do is gauge match your yarn and have fun. This technique is good because most of these original vintage yarns are no longer available.

Fassett's designs have remained remarkably fresh even after all these years. A lot of that has to do with the fact that his biggest design influence is color. This book has gorgeous photography, many patterns and clear enough photos to make a reasonable guess at colorways. Or you can do what I did for the Jack's Back: line your yarns up in natural light until you have a colorway that pleases you and go!

Book arrived in condition as stated and within a week of being ordered. I couldn't have been more pleased. Also, had several e-mails back and forth concerning another matter and Allen couldn't have been more gracious. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again.

From the Publisher:
This one of a kind guide opens the door to endless creativity by enabling you to make virtually any sweater in any gauge. Here you'll find over 20,000 different sweater possibilities - you'll never need to refer to another sweater pattern again. All the basic sweater patterns are here, and each one can be made in any yarn, from very fine to very bulky.

Barbara Goldstein shows how to determine the right amount of yarn to buy, combine different yarns, add stripes to a sweater, use fancy pattern stitches, and more. Detailed instructions help you check size as you work, so there are no disappointing surprises when projects are completed.

Fully illustrated with black & white and color photographs. Charts, drawings, diagrams.

This book is for every person who has spent hours knitting swatches, trying to match your gauge with those of the directions, or, disregarding that frustrating step, knit away and ended up with too long sleeves, too tight body, and a neck opening your head won't fit through: this book lets your gauge match the pattern! A unique system of inserting stiches into patterns based on your gauge, it is a book we frustrated knitters have longed for.
Any size needles, any type of yarn, make ONE swatch: select the style sweater, follow the chart provided(fully explained)and start knitting.

This is an amazing book. You can truly crochet or knit any sweater with any yarn in any gauge successfully with this book. A real bonus book for those 'yarn-aholics' out there who love to collect yarns, then decide they need to make something out of all that yarn. :-)

Most of these really nice patterns can be successfully altered if you have a decent amount of knitting experience.

Their other book, Great Big Knits, has beautiful patterns as well, but most of them cannot easily be altered without some design distortion.

Of the two books, Big Knits can be used by more knitters of different sizes.

This book is for the luxe lady who wants to knit great, excitingly fashionable sweaters, but is stymied by traditional S-M-L pattern books.

Dawn French, a favorite from the "Vicar of Dibley" series, and several of her Rubenesque chums model some beautiful sweaters and it looks like they're having a great time. Makes me want to knit them all.

I bought the book to find something to knit for my mother (the size thing again), but I may just be knitting a few of these for myself. You'll want this one for your collection.

The first knitting pattern book I've seen with large sizes. The designs are beautiful, and the patterns are clear and easy to understand. The yarn information at the end of the book is very helpful.

I'm so glad Krystyna Chiger shared this story-- her story-- with the world. It is a stark and heart-breaking story of survival, love, family and hope in a time that stripped that from so many families. While it is painful to read the memories and accounts of her family's survival under the streets of Lvov, Poland, it is also a reminder how easily hate can exist. It's important, I think, to always remember the Halocaust and to be reminded of these individual stories so we can always have a face, a family, to put with the history. This book is well written with surprising humor, tenderness and hope. Definitely worth the read.

The girl in the green sweater lived in the sewers of Lvov, Poland, for 14 months. For 12 months, she lived w ith the thousands of rats, with the raw sewage, the mold and dankness and cold, underneath the Bernardynski church, in the sewer. For two months before that she lived in a different sewer, underneath a different church, Maria Sniezna, "Our Lady of the Snow," with the dangerous Peltrew River always close. The river carried away the sewage flowing=2 0through the pipes surrounding the girl's hiding places.
She was seven years old.
She lived there with her mother and her father and her brother Pawel. The four of them were the only intact family to survive the Nazi Holocaust in the city of Lvov, which, before the Nazis, had 150,000 Jews. Exactly one family survived from all those people. The family survived the initial Soviet occupation of Lvov, the subsequent German occupation, the ever constricting ghetto to which the Germans then consigned them, the final liquidation of the ghetto, then 14 months of confinement in the sewers. Amidst it all, ethnic Ukrainians distinguished themselves for hostility and brutality, even in the sewer itself -- in "The Palace," as the survivors called their L-shaped chamber.

Bad becomes good when something else becomes worse. It was bad when the Soviets robbed the populace of its freedom of movement -- until the Germans occupied the city and entered the apartment of the girl with the green sweater and helped themselves to the belongings there. Everything from dishes to the piano became free for the occupiers. Gradually, her family's apartment was stripped bare. Just like that: people came, people took. It was bad. Until it became worse, when the family of the girl with the green sweater was forced from its apartment into the ghetto, from the many rooms of the apartment at Kopernika 12 to a single room with several families. This was bad. Until it became w orse, when the "actions," the Nazi shootings and deportations, began. They, too, were bad, until it became worse, when the ghetto was shrunk, the freedom of movement drastically reduced, the availability of food and water reduced to the barest subsistence. That, too, was bad, until the final liquidation, when the only choice seemed to be escape to the sewers.

It was an escape planned well in advance by the father of the girl in the green sweater, by Ignacy Chiger. If ever there were a hero of the Holocaust, it was he, who always seemed one step ahead of the Nazis, who always saw the next step coming and found a way to prepare for it, who was good with his hands and quick with his tongue; who knew how to construct a false wall in the back of a closet and a crawl space beneath a window ledge; who knew how to build an unseen bunker, who knew how and where to dig through many feet of concrete to locate an entrance to the sewers; who, above all, was not going to be separated from his wife, Paulina, and his two children, seven-year-old Krystyna and four-year-old son Pawel.
Miraculous as it was, t he survival of this one intact family was a cursed attenuation, as one by one Ignacy and Paulina and daughter and son watched their grandparents and cousins and siblings and in-laws shot or drowned or deported.
Their spirit was not broken.
That which could break the Chigers' spirit was bad, until it got worse. Living with the rats, hunted like animals, still, some 21 people initially found themselves safe in the sewer together. Until Paulina's father got separated and presumably drowned, like so many others, in the Peltrew River, only a single slip away from the small ledge of the sewer pipe; in any case, never heard from again. Still, the nuclear family of the Chiger's included Paulina's brother-in-law, Kuba, who was also resourceful, until he was drowned in a sewer pipe that suddenly flooded, leaving the Chigers diminished and Ignacy deeply guilt-ridden. He had allowed Kuba to take his turn fetching the fresh water that day. (The water, gathered in drops, leaked through cracks underneath Lvov's Neptune Fountain.) Still, the Chigers remained intact -- until their lives were threatened by some of their underground "comrades," Jews who resented the two Chiger children, as they required additional care.
Enter Leopold Socha.

If ever there were a gentile hero of the Holocaust, it was Leo pold Socha. As Ignacy Chiger and his co-escapees initially broke through the concrete in their ghetto hideaway to reach the sewers, Socha, a Lvov municipal sewer worker, happened to be there. He could have turned in the Jews on the spot, having discovered their escape plan. He looked at Paulina with her "two chicks," as he called them -- Krysty na in her green sweater, knitted by her father's mother, and her primary protection throughout 14 months in the sewers, and her little brother Pawel -- and Socha looked at all of the Jews gathered there. He decided, on the spot. He would guide them to the sewers and bring them daily bread, in exchange for a fee. He would need money to buy food to sustain 21 people daily; he would need money to pay two co-workers whose help would be indispensable, and he wanted recompense for endangering these three families. Ignacy Chiger, very resourceful, had saved many zlotys, jewels and other valuables for just such an occasion; and the others committed to pay, too.
Enter Kowalow.
He was a co-savior of Socha, whose principal job was to stand guard above. Nazis were always on the lookout for evidence of Jews -- such as voices coming from the sewers below, or Jews who exited via a manhole (they were shot). Polish sewer workers were always at work, descending into the sewers. Kowalow knew the sewers like the back of his hand. He stood guard, knew how to move around the Jews underneath and managed to wa ve away other sewer workers. At one point, when the Russians were closing in on Lvov and the Germans were mining the area around their headquarters, the Germans were digging up the street directly above the Chigers' underground hideaway. Kowalow confidently strode up to the Nazis, told then that not only were there sewers below, but also gas lines. If they k ept digging, they would blow themselves up. He was persuasive; he stopped the Germans.
Socha never stopped. Two kilometers per day, each way, he crawled through the raw sewage to bring food to "his" Jews, as he later proudly called them.
Leopold Socha and his faithful assistant, Wroblewski, kept alive the girl in the green sweater, her mother, her father, her brother, and many others underneath the Bernardynski church -- kept them alive seven days a week, crawling through the sewage, two kilometers each way, to bring food.
And not only food.

Socha's wife Wanda did their laundry or, at least as much of it as could be squeezed through 40-centimeter-wide sewers without getting soiled. Along with the rats were the lice. Lice everywhere. Wanda boiled out the clothing to rid it of the lice -- a temporary but welcome respite. Once, in perhaps the ultimate irony, Socha managed to steal from a Nazi store a pile of upscale men's wear, and somehow he got it to his Jews. For a short period, Jews in the sewers of Lvov were decked out in the fanciest fin ery that Nazi-occupied Poland could offer, until the dankness and filth did their work.

More ironies. What is one to do during the "day" (there was no light, except for that provided by weak lanterns), so as not to go stark raving mad? (It's not just a phrase; some did go stark raving mad. They had to get out. They crawled th e two kilometers through the sewers, opened the manholes, hoping to escape to a friend or to the forests or something, anything. With a single exception, Kowalow reported that they all were caught and shot instantly, including those who had threatened to kill the Chigers.) In the dark, underground, this is what they did: They put on little skits. Comedies. In whispers. (They heard the voices above the street, so the people above could hear noises below.) They poked fun of each other. In the sewers of Lvov . . . laughter.
And homework.
Socha managed to find workbooks for the girl in the green sweater. Her father taught her how to read, by the dimmest lamplight, in the sewers of Lvov.
And there was prayer.
One of the group, which had dwindled to 11 people after some had exited the sewer (only to be shot), was Henry Beretycki, who had managed to retain his tallit and tefilin. In the sewers of Lvov, Beretycki donned his tallit and tefilin every morning (they knew it was morning by the timing of Socha's daily visit). With his prayers he provi ded hope and inspiration to his 10 comrades. Once a torrential rain came. The streets were pouring water into the sewers, and the Peltrew River was rising from below. The waters flooded "The Palace" and kept rising. The children would be drowned if their parents did not hold them up. The waters kept rising -- up to the necks of the adults. The g irl with the green sweater screamed out to Beretycki to pray, which he was doing. Still, the water kept rising, but as it reached their nostrils it began to subside. Socha had gone to his church to light a memorial candle for all of his Jews. He thought for sure that he would find nothing the next day but corpses -- that they had all drowned.
Candles -- Socha brought Shabbos candles, too.
Every Friday, Paulina Chiger, mother of two, nurturer of everyone in "The Palace," lit the candles of Shabbos . . . in the sewers of Lvov.

And wrenching, wrenching tragedy.
It is bad -- until it is worse. It became evident, very slowly, to ten of the 11 people in the sewer that the eleventh person, Weinbergova, was pregnant. Pregnant in the sewer! Weinbergova had hidden it; most of the time it was virtually impossible for anyone to see anyway. This same mother had handed her toddler to an Aryan woman just before she descended into the sewer, to save her child's life. The same woman had been abandoned by her husband and now was deathly afraid ( not a metaphor) of revealing her pregnancy; the baby's cries could give away their secret location. In the end, Ignacy Chiger became midwife, while Paulina Chiger and the other women prepared a mixture of warm sugar water to get the child to nurse.
Socha, who had been informed of the pregnancy earlier that day but did not know of the birth, was desperately trying to find a home for the baby on the outside. Weinbergova, who feared for the safety of the group, did not know of Socha's efforts and kept covering the child's face with a rag, at first seeming to quiet his crying but actually trying to suffocate him. Each cry endangered the group. Paulina pushed the rag away from the infant's mouth. Mother put the rag back on, Paulina pushed it back off. Back and forth. All of this happened, records the girl in the green sweater, without a word passing between the two women. Then Paulina drifted off for a moment. Weinbergova put the rag over the infant's mouth and suffocated him.
Paulina awoke, and was beside herself. But perhaps Weinbergova had saved all of their lives? Then Socha arrived. He announced that he had persuaded some nuns to take the child and save its life. Weinbergova was inconsolable. She had killed her baby to save their lives when it had been arranged, unbeknownst to her, that someone would save her baby.

Horrible -- until it is still worse.? I have told you stories from life in the sewers, and20I spare you others so as not to give away this tale altogether. I spare you, for example, the story of the Ukrainian who ended up a prisoner of the Jews in the sewers. I spare you the stories of the Jews in nearby Tarnopol, Poland, who came out of the sewers when they thought the Nazis had been defeated, and ended up dead, for the Nazis retook the city an d killed them. I spare you, most of all, the stories of the liberation of Krystyna Chiger, the girl with the green sweater, and of her family and of the others in their little underground sewer society, except to tell you that upon exiting the sewers, the hollows beneath Krystyna's eyes, and beneath the eyes of her brother Pawel, were as "deep and empty as a corpse's."
And except for this:
On May 13, 1945, less than two months after the Chigers, on their way out of Poland to escape the new, communist oppression, had said their last goodbyes to Leopold Socha -- who crawled two kilometers, each way, each day, through the sewers to save "his" Jews, and did so even after the Jews' money ran out; who risked his life and that of his wife and daughter and that of his two co-workers -- the Chigers received a telegram. It said that, the day before, a reckless Russian army truck driver had struck Socha.
And killed him.
"This alone was worse than the pain I felt over all the other tragedies I had been made to experience, Uncle Kuba, Babcia, my grandparents, my cousins, my aunts, my uncles . . . their tragic deaths did not add up to the pain of this one loss. . . . I thought back to that day toward the end of our time in the sewer when Socha took me by the hand to find that small sliver of daylight, to ease me from the depths of depression. I closed my eyes=2 0and pictured his big, bright smile. I heard his voice. I felt the positive energy he brought with him into our Palace chamber each day when he arrived with food and provisions and news of the war. I considered all of this and held fast to my mother. Together, we were crying, crying . . . "
Run over on the street by a reckless driver, Socha's blood, it was learned, had dripped . . . into the sewer below.
"Every year on the anniversary of his death, I light a yahrzeit candle in his memory and I consider these words -- he who saves one life saves the entire world, kto ratuje jedno zycie, ratude caly swiat . . . "

The Girl in the Green Sweater, by Krystyna Chiger, with Daniel Paisner, is published by St. Martin's Press (2008).

The following is the Publisher's Weekly review:
In thus puissant memoir, Holocaust survivor Chiger and co-author Paisner detail Chiger's early years, largely spent hiding from Nazi and Ukrainian persecution. Told from a precocious child's point of view, Chiger chronicles long, dark hours spent in silence with her younger brother, Pawel, in makeshift bunkers and behind false walls while their parents worked menial jobs for meager rations. Chiger's seven-year-old cypher possesses a self-awareness that springs from her inner and outer turmoil, capturing well the despair and terror of a life in hiding. After the Chigers are forced into the underground sewer system, with a collection of strangers, by the Lvov ghetto liquidation in May 1943, the family spends fourteen months in the most unsanitary conditions imaginable, sharing quarters with rats and human waste. Amid the sick and starving, young Chiger clings to hope through make believe games, trust in her parents, and the Catholic sewer worker who provides their only access to the outside world. With a powerful story and a keen voice, Chiger's Holocaust survivor's tale is a worthy and memorable addition to the canon.

A sweater, soft, warm and comforting, Grandma's sweater is the focal point of Mary E. Aquino's supurb narrative. The family has come together to celebrate and say farewell to "Grandma." The author draws readers into the lives of those who have been touched, comforted and strengthend by the sweater. Women whose lives were changed by their experiences. A well written tale of
growth and acceptance that will touch your heart.
Beverly J Scott author of Righteous Revenge

this is a book you can't put down, so plan on a quiet place with time to indulge yourself in a wonderful excursion thru the lives of people you may know in real life. you will be moved to laugh and cry and feel really good at the closing of the last page. you will love the journey.

I really enjoyed this delightful book. Mary Aquino has a way of of bringing her characters to life. You think that you have the pattern down, and then the book takes a few twists and turns that you would never expect. I am looking forward to reading other books written by Mary Aquino.