Customer Reviews

Hip Knit Hats: 40 Fabulous Designs

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this book because the hats were so cute. I have made the "Bobbi" hat three times and ripped it apart three times because the bobbles did not line up. I finally decided to look online to see if anyone else had problems with this pattern. I found that the author, Cathy Carron, has posted corrections to 15 of the 40 patterns on her website. Unbelievable. So I now have the corrections and can make the hat successfuly. Also unbelievable is that this is the 4th edition of this book. I will never buy another book by this author again until I read a review assuring me that it is error free.

The knit hats and patterns in this new book really are hip and cool! And that's saying something; most hat patterns I've seen are either dull and uninspiring, or so wildly "out-there" that only a space alien would wear one. Hip Knit Hats manages to avoid either extreme, offering 40 fun patterns for knit hats and caps that are creative, fashionable and flattering.
Excellent tutorials on hat construction and knitting techniques (knitting in the round, casting on with variations, finishing, felting and fulling) lead to unusual embellishment options and then, finally, the hats!
Cute, simple caps are followed by hats with wide upturned brims, caps for guys, a head-hugging cloche, a pillbox hat with darling bobbles, seed-stitch pillboxes, and various berets. I love the "Fabulous Felted" chapter and embroidery techniques offered as well.

The great thing about this book is that every project is shown in different gauges and colors. So, if you want to know what a chunky-weight single-color hat looks like in bulky weight yarn and two colors, in many cases you can just turn the page. There are pillboxes, berets, felted hats with felted flowers, hats with ribbing at the bottom, furry eyelash yarn hats, etc. Hats for men and hats for women that are truly wearable! My only critique is that some of the hats are too similar. The hats that are really unique (ex: the bobble hat and the topknot hat) stand out so much that I wanted to see more of them.

The hats in this book are wonderful designs. However, the patterns are riddled with mistakes and it is absolutely necessary to go to the authors Web site to download corrected versions of a number of patterns. I wasted several hours of knitting time before I called the editor and found out about the eratta page. Now I must tear out two rows of knitting and, even worse, an entire row of hard-to-make "babbles" to correct the mistake. I see that the author herself says as much (about the mistakes in the patterns) in the first message on this site. Unfortunately, I didn't see that until it was too late.

If I had known about the mistakes in the beginning, I would have still bought this book because the designs are so inventive and so pleasing. I was also pleased that the author acknowledges the fact that many hat patterns are too small because they are made for an "average" head size of 21" and that she gives instructions for making all of her hats larger. I have knit hats for three people so far and each one has a head size of 22" or 23", so having the larger pattern size has been important.

Again, do buy this book if you're looking for really interesting and lovely knit hat designs. But, if you get the first edition, beware of the many pattern arrors before you begin anything. These will probably be corrected in the second edition.

I love, love, love this book! I'm a hat person and a voracious knit person. I buy lots of knitting books almost all of them from Amazon. The customer reviews are what I base my buying decisions on. I've been disappointed with some purchases in the past but not this one. Having ended up with several costly mistakes knitting hats from the bottom up, (i've got several expensive wash rags now) I tuned into the top down method in this book. It's much easier to fit the hat, you keep trying it on until it covers your ears or whenever it looks right. It took me awhile to get the hang of the double pointed needles but I think I got it. And these patterns are so cool! I've knitted the hat on the cover in several different variations, I think I'm addicted. Great pictures, funky designs, easy directions, what more could you ask for?

Without a doubt, this is one of the worst knitting books available
currently (outside of K. Bartholemew, who does not provide the yardage
you need for a pattern for the "common people"-apparently, the task would be too pedestrian).
For example, the instructions for each hat states that you should cast on 12 stitches. Reasonable. Then for row two, you K1, make one, which will result in 18 stitches. What?!!!! If you knit one, make one
with 12 stitches you end up with 24. Horrible directions. She talks
about doing some kind of wrapping of needles that is so confusing you
wonder where her head was when she wrote the directions. This
book has wonderful hats. The directions are deplorable. Her directions
are not sensible and overall, terrible. Buy this book if you
want to become completely frustrated OR encouraged. This book is a
testiment that anyone without sense or experience can publish.
I have tried repeatedly to contact the author to ask for clarity. She
never responded. I tried the publisher and her personal email. She doesn't have to care as she is making money - shame on me for being dumb enough to purchase her book.

This is a beautiful book, full of great hat patterns. I've had the book a year and just recently decided to knit one of the patterns. I came to the realization something was wrong with the instructions. I asked at my local yarn store and they found errors. We then did a search for Errata online and found MANY corrections to many pages. This is a real shame. I'm still fairly new to knitting and don't like spending a lot on a book like this. To me, it is not worth the money. I can't believe the designer of these patterns didn't review every single pattern when working this book with the publisher.

I saw this book last week and just had to order it.

I love the hats in this book. Most are variations of the top down method with a wrap cast on of 12 stitches. In fact, I learned the wrap method from this book, and I had never made a top down hat before.

I also liked the photos and expecially the variations with other weights of yarn.

I made two hats(Violet Seed and Valery)already, and I love how they turned out. However, there were minor mistakes in the patterns that I could get around. I also know of some errors in at least one other pattern--Bobbi.

I have sent an e-mail to the publisher for an errata sheet.

Even so, I would recommend this book. It's wonderful for last minute gifts and knitters with some experience should be able to get around the pattern errors.

It's great to hear that so many of you out there are tackling the hardest of the patterns in Hip Knit Hats...thank you to the eagle eyes out there who have caught the ERRATA!! Profuse apologies - these things do happen - do check out my website: www.pondedge.net - for corrections to patterns...on the Home Page - click 'Helpful Info', then click 'Errata' - there's a FREE PATTERN that you can access on the Errata page as well in thanks for your forbearance!! Keep those needles clickin'!

I've been searching for a book of hat patterns and this is THE one! I prefer knitting hats with circular needles and all of these are done this way. I don't think there isn't one pattern in this book that I wouldn't like to make. Lots of styles, from basic to really stylish. I would definitely recommend this book for someone looking for really great patterns for hats. I even learned a new technique to start them.