Customer Reviews

Elements of Style: Knit & Crochet Jewelry with Wire, Fiber, Felt & Beads

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I admit that wool covered wire or steel, copper or silver wire and pliers are NOT part of my knitting kit. I usually knit with wool and stick to fairisle or lace. Lace! Hmm. What if I tried knitting lace with metal wire? What would happen?

Well, what would happen is that you'd get some beautiful jewelry items, things you couldn't IMAGINE. This book, Elements of Style, has ideas to create objects with knitted or crocheted wire. Embellished with beads, you can make earrings, brooches, necklaces, pendants, and bracelets.

At first glance, I did not like this book. Knitted wire seemed a stunt, to me. Then I saw the triangular earrings with rose quartz slim barrel beads on the base. Done in silver wires, they were as ethereal as silver spider webs with translucent dewdrops. I fell in love. Then I saw several necklaces with twisted ropes of flat knitting--very sculptural and modern.

There are ways to make caged beads, flat medallions and squares, ways to make findings or connectors for stone donuts. Not all the designs appealed to me, but quite a few really did catch my eye. I started to consider if I would put those needle nose pliers into my knitting kit and order some silver wire, knitting wire and those quartz beads. Importantly--in the back of the book is a list of suppliers for wires, beads and findings. This is helpful as knitting wire is not something our local craft store supplies.

If you are a beader who understands knitting or crochet, you really HAVE to try out this book. The techniques will spark your creative juices in new ways. If you are a knitter, imagine making a knit brooch, with beads, silver or copper or wool-covered wire that compliments a knitted or crocheted coat. Great stuff. Recommended highly.

Elments of Style by Rosemary Hill is the perfect book for knitters who want to stretch their inner-knitter. It's not a book for the person who wants to only knit socks and nothing else.

Knitting jewelry with fine wire was outside my knitting basket of interest until I saw Ms. Hill's book. However, the patterns, photos and illustrations are so detailed that I am motivated to knit up an earring or two! I especially love the leaf necklace. I highly recommend this book as an excellent addition to your knitting book library.

A jewel!

Rosemary Hill has combined her knitting design skills (see her popular patterns in Knitty.com, among other places) and her jewelry design skills to create this fresh and new book showing everyone how to make stunningly original pieces. Various techniques are covered in three sections -- wire, fiber, and felt.

The photos are beautiful, and even better, the diagrams and figures are exceptionally clear, and the directions are easy to follow. Projects vary from "instant gratification" to the more complex. All are gorgeous.

I was intrigued by the title of this book and couldn't wait to get it. Fiber jewelry is getting more popular but there aren't alot of books out on the subject. I wanted to see what projects this book offered and I was not disappointed.

With pretty simple materials you'll be making modern wearable art pieces of fiber art. The book contains seventeen projects that combine the writers 3 passions - beading, knitting and crocheting and she combines them perfectly. Elements of Style will appeal to jewelry makers of all levels as well as knitters/crocheters who never thought about using those skills to make jewelry.

No matter what your experience with knitting or crochet, this book will get you familiar with the materials, tools, and techniques. This book is so well written with great illustrations and instructions that someone like me who can't knit, feels confident enough to make the knit jewelry projects. I think this is one of the strongest elements of this book. Most of these are basic wireworking, beading, knitting and crochet so a beginner won't feel overwhelmed. There are special technique sidebars and tip boxes throughout the book which will make sure you are successful with every project.

The book is in three sections: wire projects, fiber projects, then felting projects. There are so many pieces in here that I like its hard to narrow down a few. For the Wire section, my fave is the "Trio of Wire Earrings". It has instructions for beaded rectangles, beaded triangles or wire rounds. I really like the triangles the best. In the fiber section, the very first project is my favorite - a scarf cocktail necklace made with stainless steel/silk blend yarn. GORGEOUS!!!! In the felting section I am ga-ga over the "Circles Cuff"

Another great thing I really like about this book is that because the projects are small its a great way to use up all those little bits of fiber, beads, and wire from we all hoard!

If you are looking for something a little different in your jewelry making or are curious about knit/crochet jewelry this is definately a book you will want to pick up. You can preview the book on the Interweave website and see a few of the projects.

This is not your Grandma's knitting, crocheting or designing jewelry book. The instructions are clear with lots of illustrations. I never heard of silk stainless steel yarn, but am actively Googling to find out where I can purchase a skein. The projects are very modern and fresh...and you won't find this jewelry in the open air markets. A good choice!

One thing about jewelry, there are so many elements and mediums in which to use to make it.
In Rosemary Hill's "Elements of Style", she shows you how to create jewelry with wire, fiber, felt, and beads. This book appeals to all levels of jewelers and crafters, especially the fiber artists.

The book is split in three sections, which are life long passions of hers. In the first section, wire is the passion she starts with. Her first project is a sterling frame bracelet. The instructions for this are impeccable. She also shows how to make the different findings like; figure-eight links, the toggle bar side and the toggle ring side. Her diagram and instructions for the assembly are simple.

We've all heard of beaded beads, but have you heard of wire beads? She has a quick and simple earring project that you will love. You use the steps from the previous necklace project and knit a wire square and close it up like a beaded bead, add a couple of beads to the ends, hold together with a headpin, put an earring wire on and...wha-la! Wire bead earrings.

Rosemary had a very good tip for knitting with wire. She says," It is usually best to use bamboo needles when knitting with wire because they are less slippery than metal needles, thus making it easier to work with the wire. You will probably want to devote a set of needles solely to working with wire as it will eventually score the surface of the bamboo."

Her second section or "passion" is Fiber, which is packed with six magnificent projects. I was amazed at the different fibers she used in these projects. For instance, the stainless steel and silk yarn blend. I have never heard of this before. This fabulous yarn is from Habu Textiles. It is very unusual. It looks soft and lovely, but having the stainless steel core, it holds it's shape like fine wire. She has made a scarf cocktail necklace out of this unusual yarn blend and it looks elegant and delicate. One of my favorites in this section is the flowery earrings. It so is made from the stainless steel yarn, in beautiful lavender. They really caught my eye.

Her third and final section is Felt. She uses knitting, crochet, needle felting, and wet felting in the pieces in this sections. I think in this section of Rosemarys book would be the ball and chain necklace & earrings. Using felt balls combined with wire tubing, this made for a wonderfully playful piece.

For all those that are beginners at knitting and crocheting, she has an informative glossary of techniques in the back that will show you enough to do the projects throughout this book.
Try it out, you'll like it.

I found this book very stimulating for the creation of new jewelry and other items. The instructions were relatively easy to read and the finished projects are elegant. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to go a new direction (and make items that people really want) with their knitting and crocheting.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started looking through this book. It's filled with some of the most beautiful and original knitted and crochet jewelry I've ever seen. You don't need to be an expert at knitting, crochet or jewelry making to be successful with the projects in this book. Each one is easy to understand and follow with detailed supply lists and helpful "need to know" tips included with each project. You'll find an extensive list of resources in the back and something that I found very helpful that I've not seen before: a list of sources by project. This book definitely elevates the art of knit and crochet jewelry to a new level.

How many of us limit ourselves to only wirework, or only beadweaving? Most of us who love fiber arts cross over into lots of other areas, and Romi Hill is definitely a Renaissance woman when it comes to being an equal-opportunity artist. Many of us know her from her innovative and clever knitwear designs, but check out her website and you'll see smart shawl pins, beads added to her knits, and jewelry, of course.
This book will help you to think outside the jewelry box and combine fiber arts with knit and crochet techniques that make for endless ways to have truly unique pieces. It will help you think more like a designer and build your confidence in your own ideas.

I think this book is a really good starting point for lots of fun jewelry! It's given me lots of ideas to use glass beads that I make as well as felted beads! I'm really happy with this book. :-)