No comments about Owner's Guide to Sewing Machines, Sergers, and Knitting Machines (Creative Machine Arts Series).

No comments about Knitted Toys.

No comments about The Handknitter's Design Book: A Practical Guide to Creating Beautiful Knitwear.

No comments about Knitting With Mohair.

5 comments about The Portable Crafter: Knitting (Portable Crafter.).

1. I bought this book for the cute little patterns in it. I completed baby's first hat this weekend. It was a quick knit and certainly portable. I am an avid baby sweater knitter and was excited to see that this book contains 3 pattern variations for a top down raglan. In reading the patterns I find the wording to be a bit hazy. I don't have a problem with this, but I could certainly see a less experienced knitter being frustrated. My big complaint is that the photos don't always match the pattern. The one I remember is for the basic baby sweater. The sweater in the photo has a ribbed bottom. The pattern gives instructions for a garter stitch bottom. It's a little detail, but would certainly be a big headache for someone who may not recognize stitches as readily.
   
   Despite the little mistakes, I do really like this book. It has some cute, quick projects that wouldn't cost a fortune to complete.



2. I'm a new self taught knitter and I "love" this little book. The baby hat is the first thing I knitted and the first real success that I could give as a gift. I've done the 2 fast fluffy hats with the bulky yarn I had on hand and they are great! I'm working on the chevron hat now and I can't believe how beautiful the pattern looks. Yes, I'm very new at this stuff and the dpn's are a bit clumsy for me but at last I'm having success. It seems that Leanne Bennett and I are on the same page. I wish she would do another book. CV



3. I liked the patterns in this book for the baby sweaters and baby hat so purchased it only to find out that all three of the baby sweater patterns have mistakes in the directions. It is very frustrating to start a project and then find that you have to struggle to understand the instructions. In fact, it is more like part of the instructions are missing for all of these patterns. I would not suggest this book if the projects that you wish to knit from it are any of the baby sweaters. The baby hat is a very easy patterns and turns out very cute. But a book is hardly worth purchasing when one of the five patterns that you like can be knitted easily.



4. I agree with all of the reviewers -- this is a nice little book with lots of enticing patters, in a great portable size. But so far every single pattern I've tried has mistakes. The cabled baby sweater is the worst of the lot -- I ended up ripping back half the sweater because the author tells you to begin the sleeve cables after all the increases are done rather than at the top. (It's shown correctly in the photograph.)
   
   After studying all of the other baby sweater patterns in order to figure it out, I realized that she simply "cut and pasted" the directions from one to the other, without double checking whether they worked. In fact, they don't actually work for any of the three patterns. There's a significant error in Row 8 that tells you to work the ribbing until the first increase. Well, that's wrong for all three patterns. You only work the ribbing for the first 4 stitches -- what is worse, one of the sweaters doesn't have any ribbing at all (it's done with seed stitch edges) so a beginning knitter would be very confused indeed.
   
   I think someone should really have tested out each pattern separately; that would have eliminated at least the repetition of those particular mistakes. There are other issues with the patterns as well -- not so much mistakes as vague instructions or design glitches. For example, the baby sweaters work better if they're cast on in an even number of stitches, so that the ribbing comes out evenly. And it would have been nice to have been given specific instructions for increasing so that the increases slant correctly. I knew what to do, but a beginner would come out with slightly messy increases.
   
   Other patterns have small omissions, which would be relatively easy to fix even for beginners (e.g., the towel patterns forget to tell you to work the garter stitch edge at the end.) I would have loved to give this book 5 stars for the adorable designs and the handy size of the book, but there are just too many careless mistakes. I'm especially bothered by the fact that the mistakes carry over from one pattern to the next, indicating that the patterns weren't written and tested separately. I tried contacting the publisher but they ignored my email.
   
   That said, once you understand the errors & deal with them, the projects do come out =well and make great gifts. I couldn't recommend this book for beginners, though an experienced knitter who knew about the errors ahead of time would probably get good use out of it. Still -- there's no excuse for cutting & pasting incorrect patterns.



5. This is a handy book for any knitter to throw in your bag to go to knitting groups or travel. It has a nice range of patterns, complete instructions, and photos to show what your project could look like. Good for any knitter's collection.

1 comments about Fabulous Fair Isle.

1. This book is full of traditional and updated charts for fair isle color pattern knitting. Most of the charts are accompanied by a close up photo of a corresponding knitted garment. This would be a great resource for people who design their own sweaters, or use Elizabeth Zimmermann's percentage system.

No comments about The Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting.

2 comments about Knitting from the Netherlands, Traditional Dutch Fishermen's Sweaters.

1. While many knitters associate fisherman sweaters with the Aran Isles and Guernsey (one of the Channel Isles), the knitters of the Netherlands make similar sweaters to Guernseys in many wonderful patterns based solely on knit and purl, with occasional cables and lace (yarn-over) designs.
   
   The basic structure of the Dutch fisherman's sweater is a patterned or textured yoke with a plain knit body. The structure is a tube with drop shoulder sleeves, similar to Norwegian sweaters. Color is not used, instead, indigo dye or natural wool is used.
   
   The sweaters bear a strong resemblence to British sweaters, due to a strong trade route between the Dutch and British trading Dutch cured herring for sweaters in the Shetlands. Since the Shetland knitters came from Norway originally, this accounts for the similar construction.
   
   This book has many stitch patterns, the method to construct an authentic fisherman's sweater the Dutch way, and many photos of Dutch fishermen and children wearing the garments in vintage photos as well. A rare book, well worth adding to any serious knitter's library.



2. Although we live in New Zealand I have married into a Dutch family. I kept borrowing this book from our local library and was lucky enough to spot it when it was put in a withdrawn library books sale. I couldn't believe my luck!
   
   This is not a fancy book, which adds to it's charm as the jumpers were designed to be practical and solid and warm. The history and photos alongside the patterns, and the instructions which make it possible to create a jumper all of your own makes this one of my favourite knitting books to leaf through.
   
   I also particularly like the way the patterns are placed in their geographical settings. I eventually plan to design and knit my children jumpers out of this book, when they are a little bigger so they don't grow straight out of them. While the tiny place their Oma grew up in is not in the book there are enough hints at the styles for that area to make me feel confident I can do something that is representative of that location.
   
   It is an absolute gem of a book.

No comments about The Harmony Guides: Colorwork Stitches: 250 Designs to Knit (Harmony Guides).

2 comments about The Knitted Teddy Bear: Knit an Heirloom Bear of Your Own.

1. I was given this book last Christmas, and I'm slowly working my way through all the patterns. The instructions are straightforward and practical, and the bears are easy to make and don't take a long time; they all turn out beautfully. You can make them with or without clothes - the clothes take a little bit of time and can be a bit fiddly, but the bears look fine just dressed with a ribbon. There are big and small bears, and many of them can be made up from odds and ends of wool left over from other projects. For a particular project eg. one of the larger bears, I'll buy wool specially. They make great presents, and this book would make an excellent gift for anyone that likes knitting, even those I'd say without too much experience. One of the best Christmas presents I've had for a long time!



2. This book has the most beautiful patterns. The bears are adorable and fairly easy to put together. These make great gift for showers and birthdays. They truely are heirloom peices.