Customer Reviews

25 Bags to Knit

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Because this book is authored by a "Rowan consultant", I thought it was safe to buy sight unseen. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

The book contains "patterns" for 26 bags consisting of two squares or rectangles sewn together. Mostly the patterns call for stripes, although some use bobbles, cables, sequins, beads, intarsia hearts, knitted flowers, or embroidered flowers as variations. The yarn color selections for the pouches are generally poor, and even the addition of metallic Rowan lurex yarn fails to add pizzazz.

Accompanying "how-to" material is pretty much unrelated to specific problems of knitted bags. For example, there appears to be nothing about linings.

If you want to knit bags, a much better selection would be PURSENALITIES by Eva Weichmann. Weichmann's book has patterns for handbags of varying shapes and sizes, including some that are felted.

This one is going back to Amazon. If you can knit a patch, bind it, fold it in half, sew the sides together, and attach a handle, you don't need this book. That is the gist of almost every pattern. There is some beadwork in it also, but I can tell you how to do that right now for free. String the beads onto the yarn first, then knit. Push them forward, out of your way, as you go. When it's time to put one in, pull it into place. I think this book didn't need to be made. Certainly, it's not reflective of what this designer can do. I'm still in the market for a bags book.

I have to agree with the other reviewers and say that this book was a big disappointment. While there are a couple of bags that are very cute most aren't all that original. While it is called 25 Bags to Knit and there are probably 25 bags in the book a few of them looked identical to me but in different colors. I did like how it was spiral bound to lay flat and some of the knitting tutorials were good (with good photos) but I wasn't all that inspired really by the bags themselves.

This book is for someone looking for fun bags with different color options. But, if you are creative and can mix and match your own colors and textures, this book will be boring for you. If you are experienced in combining fancy stitches like bubbles, ruffles, and knitting with beads, then this is not for you. But if you don't often use them, it's a fun way to try different combinations of stitches. I'm addicted to knitting books, so this was fun to add to my library, but I would be remiss in recommending it to everyone.

Having said that, there is one important problem not mentioned in any reviews yet. There are mistakes in some of the patterns. For instance, in the "Fancy" bag on page 18, there are several mistakes. Only moderate to experienced knitters will figure out how to get through this bag. Some sloppy mistakes like "break yarn" when you really don't have to, and continue rows 3-8 when it should read 4-8 (otherwise not in stockinette stitch anymore). There was a HUGE mistake omitting an entire increase row which is a foundation row for the whole pattern of increase and decrease. The pattern read "repeat row 2 and 3" which were simply knit and purl with no other mention to increasing. That throws the whole pattern off and impossible to make as written. You don't see the mistake until 10 rows later where the next increase is building off the first one. Fortunately, the pictures are excellent and close up enough to actually see what should have been happening. With a piece of paper mapping out the increases beyond the first one, I could figure out what should have been happening, but not everyone will want to do that.

I have not gone through all the patterns, but have seen a couple of other minor mistakes. This was the most glaring example I found.

The quality of the book itself is wonderful with great photography of the pieces. Inspiring color combinations for those of us who are creatively challenged. Also, the back of the book has a fairly good techniques section. So it really depends on what you are expecting, and your level of experience and creativity. So to be safe, you probably should try a library check-out first before deciding to buy the book. Another suggestion would be to go to the author's website (easy to find by searching her name and the word "knit") Most all of the bags featured in the book are pictured there so you can see what is being offered.

This book has maybe 5 designs total. Then everything else is a variation of the same kind (different color, slightly different proportions, etc). The photos are great, but the contents are extrememly substandard.

I do agree with the previous two reviews. It is true that most of the bags are plain rectangles and are similar in construction. They may not be creative and interesting in construction. However, they all are very cute. I would like to knit them all. If you do not mind having many pattens for the same construction with variety of design, this book is worth looking at.

Not much else to say about it other than that. Oh but wait we fresh it up with some different yarns. Seriously are you going to spend $100 on yarn to make one boring bag? They are pretty... pretty simple. Don't waste your money.

...then some of these bags would appeal to you. Little girls like bobbles more than adults do I think. I did see a few (maybe 3) bags that I thought were cute. I ended up making the Clementine clutch and it really did come out super cute, although the pattern directions were a little unclear.

I noticed that the pictures of the bag show the two sides different (for example, the Clementine clutch has a few rows of stockinette stitch on the front) but the pattern says to make both sides the same! Weird.

Overall, this is definetely a library borrow, not a purchase. I expected a little bit more.

I just received the new book 25 Bags to Knit by Emma King (Trafalgar Square Publishing, 2005), and had a great time paging through it. The bags are bright, splashy, and fun, the binding is a covered spiral so you can open it up to a specific page and leave it open, and there are great close-up photos of the details of every pattern, so you can compare your work in progress to the instructions. I was more impressed by the contents than I expected to be, because I don't think they put the most interesting bag on the cover.

Other pros? Each pattern is marked in a star system so you can tell which are meant for beginners, intermediate, or advanced knitters. Bags are a relatively quick project, so one of these would be a good way to learn a new-to-you technique like fair-isle knitting, cable stitching, knitted bobbles, or knitting with beads. Gauges and techniques for knitting the actual pieces are set out in both US and UK friendly measurements.

The cons? Several of the bags bear marked similarities in design - so it is more like 20 beautiful bags than 25. I also felt the finishing instructions left a little something to be desired. I would never attempt to carry a knitted bag that wasn't lined, so I wanted to see notes about linings, and didn't. With the possible exception of the bags in the Chunky Section (other sections are Anytime bags, Children's bags, and Evening bags), each of these bags will wind up a shapeless lump in a week of wear without a constructed lining.

All things being equal, this is a very pretty book, with great photography, for a well worth it $24.95 retail price. For the intermediate knitter looking for some design inspiration, this might be a good choice. While I would not recommend it for an absolute beginner just learning to knit or finish, my daughter has already pointed out 2 or 3 that she wouldn't mind having me make for her!

Mary Beth Temple is the writer/editor of the web site All Info About Knitting.

This book is wonderful. I lies flat and there are color pictures of both the front and back of each project. Each bag has stars to denote degree of difficulty for each bag - there are plenty of easy projects as well as intermediate. There are also detailed instructions in the back of the book to assist with any knitting skills that may be rusty. The colors were wonderful and the styles illustrated were beautifully presented.