Knitted Icons [Paperback]

Carol Meldrum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

Knit all your favorite icons—from the King to the Queen!
 
From Madonna and Jackie O to Che Guevara and Chairman Mao, here are step-by-step instructions for creating gorgeous, eerily life-like knitted dolls of 25 legends of the screen, music, sports, and history.
 
Including everyone from Mr. T and Elvis Presley to Gandhi, and Queen Elizabeth II, and even King Kong, Knitted Icons is full of memorable personalities and easy-to-use patterns. Each doll measures a substatial 10 inches tall—suitable for posing on your desk, bookshelf, or doll display of your choice.
 
Every finished doll is photographed in glorious full-color and accompanied by biographical background sidebars, along with evocative quotes from the icons themselves.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Carol Meldrum is a knitter and crafter who has worked as a design consultant for Rowan Yarns. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Quirk Books (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159474209X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594742095
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.3 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Missing instructions?, December 23, 2007

By 

C. Reid "go2yourlibrary" (Bloomington, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Knitted Icons (Paperback)

I love this book! it has some really fun ideas for making your very own cuddly pop icon. Who can resist making a Gandhi for a 5 year old boy? What Grandma wouldn't love to sell a set of the Beatles, a Madonna or Audrey Hepburn at her church bazaar? Wonderful!
Unfortunately, as I worked on Godzilla, I noticed that the assembly instructions are very incomplete! Where is the pattern for his mouth? Where do I sew on his legs? While I think I can cobble this together, I think the author needs to work on her assembly instructions!
I can hardly wait to start on David Bowie!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good inspiration, but..., January 1, 2008

By 

C. M. Gill (Cincinnati OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Knitted Icons (Paperback)

If you are a new knitter, or new to toys, this book might be a good place to start. However, be warned that the costumes are mostly sewn, not knitted. There are pattern pieces which a more experienced knitter could use to create knitted costumes.
The book suffers from a lack of precision, especially if compared to someone like Jean Greenhowe, who gives you very specific instructions as to where to place facial features. Greenhowe tells you how many rows and stitches to count from the center; this author tells you to "add features as shown in the photo."
Also, the gloves drove me crazy - they are knitted separately instead of using a color change. They all look like boxing gloves, which is fine for Ali, but not for Jackie O.
That being said, the modest cost of the book, and the inspiration it can provide, makes it worthwhile. I'm glad I bought it, and glad I didn't pay any more for it than I did.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who doesn't want a Mr T doll?, January 5, 2008

By 

Genevieve Hayes (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Knitted Icons (Paperback)

"Knitted Icons" is worth the price of purchase just for novelty value. Starting with a simple knitted doll (the pattern of which is provided), Meldrum provides instructions for dressing and decorating this doll to look like Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Lee, Abe Lincoln, Jackie O, Che Guevara, Jimi Hendrix, Albert Einstein, Cher, James Dean, Muhammed Ali, Madonna, Andy Warhol, Chairman Mao, the Beatles, Charlie Chaplin, Gandhi, the Queen, Bob Marley, Audrey Hepburn, Bob Dylan, Mr T, David Bowie and Elvis (she also provides pattens for knitting King Kong and Godzilla, although these are not from the basic doll pattern). The doll clothes are a combination of knitted and sewn items.

Although unlikely to suit absolute beginners, I would say this book would be appropriate for advanced beginners to intermediate knitters. The items in this book can be knitted in a relatively small period of time and would make ideal presents for fans of pop-culture. The patterns in this book can also be easily modified to make other celebrity dolls (I have plans to make a "Kill Bill" Uma Thurman doll using the Bruce Lee yellow tracksuit, for example). The only reason why I didn't give this five stars was because the patterns for the (sewn) doll clothes are not printed at full size and need to be enlarged (something which I hate doing). Other than that, though, this is a good book which provides a welcome change from the Japanese-style knitted toy books that seem to be flooding the market at the moment.