Jean Moss (1)

I've already begun choosing my holiday knits from this book. There's a nice variety of gifts, different things than are usually offered. I can't wait to start knitting!

Although not a book for beginners, this is a great resource for the more experienced knitter. It contains a wide variety of patterns with great designs for babies, women, men, the home, and even the family dog. Patterns utilize beads, specialty yarns, and put a new twist on several traditional forms such as mitts and boleros. Beautiful color illustrations motivate the knitter to start casting on right away. An appendix of techniques is illustrated and easy to follow. This would be a nice show more addition to the experienced knitter's collection. show less

I really enjoyed reading this lively collection of projects to knit. There is a wonderful variety of projects to do for all skill levels. She also recommends how to simplify the more difficult projects with is encouraging for less skilled knitters. The instructions are clearly written and include such need to know items like how long it takes to make the project, and different colour combinations. At the end there is both a colour picture index of the projects as well as a full index of the show more book. Overall this is a fun group of projects that I look forward to knitting! show less

This book was generously donated by The Taunton Press, Inc. for review.

First Impressions: Do you have friends, family members, co-workers, acquaintances, or random strangers that you need to knit presents for? Well this book is perfect for you. This book has 30 projects for babies/little ones, women, men, and the home. An extra bonus is that the presents are unique (e.g., beaded wristlets and a dog jacket) but simple (most of these projects are easy enough for an advanced beginner). Another show more extra bonus is that most of these projects are ones that I would actually knit for people (e.g., mittens, hats, and baby booties). I really hate it when gift books are predominately filled with items that are interesting when opened but quickly forgotten.

The Details: As stated earlier, this book has 30 projects for babies/little ones, women, men, and the home. Rowan yarns are used for the projects, but the author encourages knitters to use whatever yarns that are handy and/or affordable. There is a section in the back of the book that reviews special techniques that are used in the book. I find this helpful for when I don't want to dig out one of my knitting technique books. Of note, although the babies/little ones, men, and home sections all have about the same number of patterns, the women's section is double the number of patterns. Although this is not surprising, it is a bit frustrating, because I don't typically have a problem with finding women's patterns.

Final Impressions: This is a great book of knitting patterns for advanced beginners. There is a good amount of variety in the patterns for all the different people in your life that needed knitted presents. show less