Book Review: Great Little Gifts to Knit by Jean Moss

Title:  Great Little Gifts to Knit:  30 Quick and Colorful Patterns
Author:  Jean Moss
Publication Date:  Sep 3, 2013

Price at time of review:
Kindle edition:  na
Paperback:  $16.57, list price $21.95
   
Book description from Amazon:  Today's knitters are avid—and busy. Although they love to knit for friends and family, and enjoy trying out new patterns and stitch techniques, they're constantly faced with the challenge of finding enough time to complete their projects. Great Little Gifts to Knit solves this problem. Jean Moss, author of Sweet Shawlettes, has designed 30 fun, fresh, beautiful patterns that incorporate traditional knitting techniques from all over the world: from Fair Isle and Aran knits to Peruvian intarsia patterns and Japanese shadow knitting techniques. Beautiful, clever, and, most of all, quick to knit, these projects offer knitters a chance to learn and experiment with new techniques—all in projects that can be made in less than a weekend.

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My Rating:

4 out of 5 stars

My Review:

Great Little Gifts to Knit provided exactly what the title implies:  30 relatively quick projects for gift giving.  While there may be nothing original about the concept, this book does a nice job presenting and organizing the projects.

The layout of the book is well thought out.  In the beginning of each chapter, Jean Moss lists the "showcased techniques" that will be used in the projects within that chapter.  She suggests that these projects can be used as mini workshops for learning new techniques which is a great idea for newer knitters.  Each project has a least one color photo (many have more than one photo), clear instructions, schematics, charts where appropriate, lists the skill level involved, and lists the approximate time needed to complete the project.  All very helpful. This book does not give basic knitting instructions, but in Appendix 1, it does describe and sometimes diagram some of the intermediate techniques and stitches used in the projects.

What I liked most about this book:  the projects are often shown with more than one color photo, and with different colors of yarn so you can really get a feel for the project.  I also loved the project index in the back of the book, with a picture of each project and page number.  I would recommend this book for beginners-intermediate knitters, although knitters of all levels will find some great gifts to knit!

*ARC courtesy of Random House, provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!*

Book Review: Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick

Title:  Handknit Holidays:  Knitting Year-Round for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Winter Solstice
Author:  Melanie Falick
Original Publication Date:  Oct 2005;   Kindle Edition:  Oct 2012

Price at time of review at Amazon:
Kindle edition:  $14.74, digital list price $24.99

Book description from Amazon:  For many people, the best part of the winter holidays is the anticipation: planning the perfect gifts, decorating the house, looking forward to seeing family and friends. Holidays can be particularly special for knitters, whose preparations often start months in advance and involve their own creations. In Handknit Holidays best-selling knitting author Melanie Falick presents an eclectic collection of more than 50 original gifts, decorations, and clothing pieces for Christmas, Hanukkah, and the winter solstice, providing year-round inspiration for knitters of all levels.

Created by top knitwear designers, the projects include colorful ornaments; funky and classic Christmas stockings; a wire-and-bead menorah; sparkly ribbon scarves; a poncho and matching dog sweater; and a range of super-quick projects for that last-minute holiday rush, from a Santa hat, to elf caps, to flower pins. Rounding out the volume are a few grand projects-an Aran tree skirt, a patchwork afghan, a lace shawl-destined to become family heirlooms, plus features on such topics as the origin of the Christmas stocking, the meaning of the winter solstice, knitting for charities, strategies for finishing holiday knitting (on schedule!), and even a delicious recipe for festive crescent cookies.

Beautifully photographed by Susan Pittard, Handknit Holidays is a creative celebration of the holiday season and a treasure for all knitters who seek to bring more of their own handwork-and artistry-into their daily lives and their holiday festivities.
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My Rating:

3.5 out of 5 stars

My Review:
This book features projects by 30 different well-known designers, each bringing their unique style to the different holiday-themed projects (mostly centered around Christmas and Winter Solstice).  Along with the 50+ patterns, there are also stories about the origin of some holiday traditions from around the world, recipes, tips to help organize your holiday knitting, and even a list of charitable knitting opportunities.

Although all of the patterns have clear instructions, there are mistakes in some of the patterns and I would have liked to have seen more pictures of the items in the book.  No problem though, since this book was first released in 2005 and therefore most of the problems have been worked out and all the pictures I need of the projects are available on Ravelry:  click here to see ravelry projects.

Most of the projects in this book are for the intermediate knitter, but advanced beginners should do fine since there are so many projects to look through on Ravelry to help you through.  There are schematics and charts where appropriate and as I mentioned earlier, the instructions are clear, but be sure to check on Ravelry for any known pattern errors.  Many of the projects are big and will require some time, so plan ahead.  This will be a go-to book for me when I need some gift-giving inspiration.

*Review copy courtesy of Open Road Integrated Media, provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!*

My plans for this winter include a few pairs of the Log Cabin socks and if I can find the time, I would love to start the Bohus-inspired Sugarplum Pullover.  Stay tuned!

Speechless Sunday: Book review continued...

Photos from Super Stitches Knitting by Karen Hemingway

Book Review: Super Stitches Knitting

Of course I do not need another knitting book, especially a stitch pattern book. But the pictures in this book are so pretty! I do not have time to scan some pictures for you right now, but who knows what "Speechless Sunday" will bring...

Super Stitches Knitting by Karen Hemingway contains over 300 stitch patterns, including basic knit and purl stitches to ornamental, stitches, textured colorwork, edgings, lace, and the list goes on. The reason I needed to buy this book is the beautiful pictures of each stitch pattern. And the directions for each pattern are clear and well explained: there are written and chart instructions (where you would expect charts). I can't wait to have a couple of hours to go through this book and dream up some new designs!