Customer Reviews

Knitprovisation: 70 Imaginative Projects Mixing Old with New

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I had seen this book listed in the newsletter of my Local Yarn Shop. So while I was there the other day, I took a look at it. The owner of the shop said she wouldn't even have ordered it if she'd known what it was like.

From the other reviews I've read, I think you could call this a white castle book... either you love it or you hate it.

I unfortunately fall into the latter category. Perhaps the point of the book is to spark creativity but her examples of projects look like bad rejects from the 1960's and 70's with an over-abundance of granny squares and under-abundance of color sense, decent photography and happy-looking models.

This book is full of creations that could appear on the Stitchy McYarnpants website complete with breathlessly funny snarky commentary.

Perusing the book left me wondering "What was she thinking?!"

If you want real inspiration try "Unexpected Knitting" by Debbie New.

I love this book, because it shows me ways to think that I couldn't even imagine before seeing them. But I agree with the reviews written before mine, this is NOT a book for the average person. Your need to be crazy creative I think to get this one. If you like cute or stylish or if you are the kind of person that likes to "blend in" this is not the book for you. Cilla Ramnek takes second hand knit wear and makes them into funky clothes art!

I'm not even saying I would wear anything from this book, but I feel the inspiration flowing from the pages. This book is a book to look through over and over again, before going to flea market or sitting down to design something new at the sewing machine. I want to use crocheted pot-holders on a bag, make a sweater out of not-at-all matching materials and experiment with my own knitting and sewing more.

It's just fun, smart and experimental! Get it if you get curious!

I looked at this book at the local Borders before buying, and I'm so glad I did. There's nothing inspirational here and definitely nothing imaginative. Ghastly is a much better word!

This is a collection of the ugliest knitting I've ever seen. The projects are useless things, like an unsightly knitted tie, a sweater made up of sleeves and collar but stops at the armpits, and an embarrassing looking skirt for a little girl. I kept asking myself, "Who would ever, in their right mind, admit to having knit any of these?"

Honestly, I've never seen such a horrible display of bad taste in one book. I own and read a lot of knitting books and nearly every knitting book or magazine has at least one of these weird projects in the name of being cutting edge, but, good grief, 70 of them within a single cover? I gave the one star for just having the guts to even publish something this awful.

The projects in this book are clothing and accessories created out of what seems to be the very worst knitted items a thrift store has to offer. There is page after page of hideousness, and I found myself wondering how in the world the author found a publisher. I just don't think a bunch of really ugly clothes are inspiring.

That said, this book is only about inspiration -- if you want to duplicate the projects (with more attractive materials, one hopes), you will not find patterns, only vague instructions.

um, excuse me bad reviewers, but you've misunderstood the whole point of this book!
it is called "knitprovisation" because you're supposed to improvise! this book will inspire you to create interesting garments and accessories with bits of knitting that you never finished or random thrifted items that you brought home to create something amazing with. it is full of suggestions for ways to be creative with what you have. It was written for those of us who collect fabric, used household textiles, doilies and other handmade things and are always on the lookout for ways to wear them. its pages are full of pictures of funky finished objects that we can learn from and be inspired by. your own creation will likely not resemble the one in the book and that's what makes it your own.
admittedly this book does contain a few ideas that are a little weird. but what craft book doesn't have at least one idea that we don't like?

this book is incredible. it's a feast for the eyes, a true buffet of ideas to spark the imagination of a DIY-er, a crafter, a thrifter, a maker. the clothing and products are "modeled" by real looking people. (i say "modeled" in quotes because these people aren't overly styled and posed. they could be your next-door-neighbor's children, or the down-to-earth grandmother you met on the bus.) the text is well written and the book is well designed. when i inspected the front matter and found the copyright to be 2004 couldn't believe i'd missed this impressive collection of handmade goods for three whole years. i gave an audible sigh of relief when i spied, at the bottom of the page, that the US printing was just this year.

after devouring this book from cover to cover i can't decide what to do first--embellish an old sweater with bits of a second old sweater, pull out the ancient doilies i bought from a long-ago yard sale, or design a fabulous vest with skeins of yarn from my stash.

don't miss this unique and quirky tome.

This book sounded interesting, but I thought I would go to my local bookstore first to check it out. The author has no sense of design or style. The projects in the book are not "funky", which would hint at some modicum of hipness....no, these projects are truly "fugly" in the literal sense of the word. How this book ever got published is beyond my comprehension. Amazingly bad.

My daughter, who is just getting into knitting, got this book from the library. She may never knit again. This book is filled with projects no one could ever want, wear in public, or display as their own. If you are a mean old spinster aunt who wants to make a kid wear something embarrassing once a year when you visit, this is the book for you. I wholeheartedly endorse the sleeves and neck sweater on page 20. Yes, the torso of this sweater extends only approximately to the armpits. Functional! Page 75 gives this wonderful tidbit: "Finish off a sleeveless white t-shirt with crocheted potholders". Yes, your wardrobe has been incomplete. You should be wearing potholders as epaulets. This book was originally published in Sweden in 2004. It has uniquely and simultaneously managed to destroy knitting and the idea that Europeans have any sense of fashion. It is also a great example of really poor photography for publication. Listless models in ugly clothes with no shot composition to speak of, staring empty-eyed at the camera. You feel bad for them, wearing their potholders and granny-square adorned jeans. At least the kid on p.96 with the swan's heads coming out of the sweater has his back to the camera. Sure, some very avant-garde people liked this book. I tend to think they may be agents of the author or publisher, though. As a work of comedy, this book works so well that it's incredible to think it may have been written in all seriousness. My advice: Save your money and buy a book that is more about knitting and less about appliqueing potholders to your clothes.

I completely understand why many crafters would not get into this book. But their disappointment probably has more to do with color choices than the focus and theory behind Ramnek's work. Perhaps it would have been better received in black and white.

No, there aren't any projects that I would copy stitch-for-stitch in this book. But this was not intended to be a didactically written craft book with instructions that must be followed. It's more like a "here's an idea; run with it" format. That's great for people like me who have trouble with patterns!

So, no, I don't really want to make leg warmers out of an old sweater's sleeves. But why not use a well-loved table runner to adorn a handbag? Or how about embroidering a vintage tie to give it a second life? I wouldn't want to use a 3-D swan doily, but couldn't an intricately crocheted doily do something besides sit on an end table? Ramnek makes crafts wearable.

If you're tired of cranking out the same crafts that everyone else creates, give Ramnek's book a glance.

The projects in this book are "funky," if by funky you mean ugly and useless. Stuck in my mind is an image of a pair of gloves made out of something like cheesecloth stitched together with big black ugly stitches. Be sure to look at it before you buy.