This book is great if you know how to knit, or even if you're just learning. It is an essential for every knitters library. You'll also find many hints that transfer to the creation of any beautiful sweater. Ganseys are magical sweaters, with patterns mostly created from simple knit and purl stitches. But, the trick for these garments is in the details, and you'll find lots of details very well explained. For the price, you cannot go wrong.The book is chock full of great tips for designing your own sweater. For me, the book arrived just in time, as I was stuck on a sweater I'd designed myself, but couldn't get the neck quite right. I found exactly what I needed, and for that alone, the book was worth it. That sweater is not a gansey, and now I am scouring my 'stash' to select just the right yarn for my next Gansey.As for what Grandma never told you, if you have questions about just how to best approach a twist, turn, slip, or ornament, you can find the answer here. You can also find enough information to design your own gansey, creating your own masterpiece in wool. Grandma knew Ganseys, but not as well as Beth Brown-Reinsel.As with all knitting, you must be very careful when knitting Ganseys to get the 7 to 9 stitches per inch correct and consistent. If you can regulate your tension, you may find you're able to use yarns that are a bit heavier than worsted, thus getting a tighter fabric that is virtually windproof. Or, try the 'real thing', using 5 ply Gansey yarn. It is beautiful to knit and really brings out the pattern, no matter what colour you select.I found Ganseys work especially well in yarns that still have spinning oil, or lanolin, in the yarn. Don't be surprised though if you give one of these away, and the recipient says the sweater is 'too warm'. Ganseys, knitted in warm wool, sometimes are 'outdoor wear only', and that's actually a good thing.