Nancy Vale’s Knitwear : BY NANCY VALE (Ballantine Books; 1987)

NANCY VALE’S NAME may be unfamiliar to Americans, but her sweaters are sold all over the country under Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and other labels. The sweaters are gorgeous, from a thick Navajo-style cardigan to an Early American sampler design on a pullover. Vale, an “English mum” who has become a design tycoon in Britain, offers patterns that are full of complicated cables and color changes, and most of them are knitted on small needles--a lifetime project for some of us. Still, anyone with modest talent and extravagant patience could really make something out of this book. ($24.95)