Customer Reviews

Knitting Little Luxuries

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Knitting Little Luxuries" definitely appeals to the new, young hip knitter. So the book is full of berets, bags, wraps and scarves, mostly in trendy colorways (muted gold-beige, pale blue) and with thicker, though not bulky yarns.

The book has four sections:

1. Electic and Quirky: textured stitches, mixed yarns, button trims, ribbon embroidery. Of the projects, there is a rug-textured bag and a button trimmed beanie that I liked. Of the quirkier side, the Alice beret is colorful, yet muted and has a floppy, individualistic shape. A button-trimmed, colorful wrap (the Dottie Wrap) goes well with this and is sort of 21st Century Hippy-Flapper (hard to qualify.)

2. Pretty And Feminine: Here, a beautiful short cardigan with a mixed texture yarn and fine merino trim caught my eye. There are angora mittens, a soft lace scarf.

3. Textured and Modern: cabled items abound

4. Traditional and Folk: features the use of fair-isle or two color knitting to make berets, scarves and pillows.

While this is not classic knitting in the style I prefer, I can see that trendy knitters would find many small and interesting projects here to work on, or to use as ideas for more ambitious projects. I would deem the knitting skill required to be intermediate, due to the use of texture stitches and colorwork. There is a handsomely drawn glossary of techniques, including the embroidery, at the back.

I bought this book for it's potential gift resources and discovered that the author and myself have very similar taste in yarn and accessories; so much so that for once I actually had the same yarns at hand for the patterns. We just clicked, and so did my needles. So far the patterns have been true to measure, really cute, and the recipients have loved them. I've combined some of these designs with things from 'Knitting Over the Edge' with wonderful results especially with the hats. The instructions are very well written and easy to follow and the photography is beautiful, what more could I ask?

I love to knit, but I often find that current magazines and books offer designs that are a bit "crunchy" (mainly sweaters, chunky mittens, thick wool scarves, etc). This book, however is different and I easily would classify it as one of my favorite knitting books. The designs are elegant, interesting, modern, but with a quirky attitude and old-world feel. All the pictures are beautifully done and the descriptions are easy to understand.

Designs range from simple to difficult and from quick work to weekly projects. I found, as others mentioned as well, that this books lends itself to creating gifts for others and I plan on using it extensively for the next holiday season.

I got this book in order to knit pretty, stylish things for my granddaughters. I love to knit and why make a bunch klutzy stuff they won't like? It is full of great ideas and the patterns are easy to use. I have knit two of the classic beanies since last night and have embellished one with folk-art star buttons and the other with a small bouquet of knitted flowers, from directions given further on in the book for embellishing an evening bag. I added a knitted leaf with a ladybug button. Both hats came out great and not a bit grandmotherly. I am going to add some arty glass beads to the flower centers tomorrow to jazz it up another notch. These are great basic patterns for getting your creative juices flowing and your embellishing stash involved. Very feminine, nice pattern stitches, very classic designs. If they aren't classic yet, they will be. Young hip people will like these designs, and so will their grandmothers.

This book completely wowed me! From the moment I opened its cover, I loved loved loved it! The patterns are beautiful and feminine in a classy way. The photography is gorgeous, and the colors are stunning. After I'd kept my library's copy for several weeks, I realized I was never going to return it, so I bought my own.

I admit that I bought the book entirely for inspiration and eye candy. As someone else said, the patterns are intermediate at the hardest, so they're not much in the way of skill advancement. Besides, I'm the sort of person that never does a pattern straight. I always alter something to better suit my tastes. None of these patterns are constructed exactly as I'd like: I'd never knit anything flat and sew it together if it could be done in one piece. However, even considering all that, I can already anticipate this book being the most inspiring pattern book I own, and I own a bunch.

Although it's already been done, I want to go over the sections and highlight the things that I found notable about each. The patterns are timelessly gorgeous, or so I thought anyway. I was very surprised to see them called trendy by other reviewers. It's true I'm young (twenty-something), but I've always considered my tastes very classic. I'm probably more a product of my generation than I think. :) C'est la vie. Here are the sections.

Electic + Quirky: Just as the name says. I love the use of randomly sprinkled buttons, embroidery, and other embellishments. The patterns as pictured are heavy on pink and and baby blue, which will look great to those with a cool skin tone (like me). I especially love the Cecily Beanie (with all the buttons) and the Betty Wrap, which does lace with big needles and chunky yarn -- a delight.

Textured + Modern: Heavy on cables. This section has really innovative designs. A purse is knit horizontally. A tunic has a dramatic cable that travels diagonally from shoulder to opposite hemline. Probably one of my big favorites from this book is the Belle Scarf & Wrap. The scarf is framed with seed stitch and stockinette cables that make an undulating, uneven edge, and the middle is flanked by columns of double yarnovers. Knit it on bigger needles and it becomes a wrap. This section is almost entirely done in a metallic blue and is photographed on a sparse-looking beach -- very modern minimalistic.

Pretty + Feminine: My favorite section. Lots of lovely lace. None of it is very hard as lace goes, but it's always arranged so artfully that the finished result is quite stunning. I love everything here, but the Catherine Purse, Juliet Scarf, and Diane Cardigan especially impress me. This section has softer colors and is photographed indoors for a very feminine feel. It also has the finest gauge yarns of the whole book.

Traditional + Folk: Excellent for those who like colors. They're all fair isle, and three out of the four look intricate enough to keep an intermediate strander busy. I'm not much for color knitting so I go for the Mary Beanie (the simplest in terms of colorwork). Again, a lot of pink and purple, though the Emma Hat is shown in camel, olive green, and brown, which should appeal to the warm skin tones.

Finally, I should address the quality of the instructions. Again, since I tend to modify, I don't notice instructions as much as some might. However, I'm halfway through the Belle Scarf (with a horseshoe lace insert instead of a center cable) and so far, everything has been very easy to understand. All but the simplest patterns have diagrams and charts. In most cases, duplicate written instructions are also provided.

As for the book itself, it's typical of Interweave Press: Layout is beautiful and uncluttered; font is easy to read; pictures are great. What more can a knitting addict ask for?

I bought this book and made the rolled brim hat for my second project. Instructions were very clear and the photographs actually made me want to knit something. I'm already making another hat in the same pattern and will get going on another project when the yarn store is open...

We all need to treat ourselves nice and the projects this book presents are just the ticket.
Nearly every pattern in my book is flagged for a future project.
The Fingerless Gloves were a snap to make and made a lovely Christmas present. I now have tons of yarn to make tons of gloves.
Great patterns for "Grace" which might be Yarn of the Year in my stash. A beautiful yarn with such great possibilities and this book makes great use of it.
The little purse on the front cover is made with a beautiful yarn that I snapped up as quickly as possible.
The instructions are clear, concise and the pictures are lovely.
Enjoy!!

I saw this book before buying but didn't realize that all the yarns called for are Louisa Harding! However each yarn does give a category by type and number so one can substitute fairly easily. The rather simple projects call for lots of embellishing based on the button box the author received from her grandmother. I like the beret which would probably make a great hat for chemo patients, tabard with a cable going up the piece on the diagonal, scarf and wrap in cables, fingerless mittens,and Juliet scarf in a nice shetland lace pattern. Some nice fairisle designs but all knit with straight needles instead of going around which is easier. However, there are some nice ideas here when you need a gift involving not too much time.

I recently purchased this book and have not been able to put it down. Gorgeous pieces, beautiful pictures and glossy thick pages. Not only do I want to make everything in the book, it's perfect for a twenty-something like myself who likes feminine things and a little bit of trend and flair at the same time. This knits in this book remind me of something you might find at Anthropologie. A little bit vintage, very feminine, luxurious and cute. The Daphne purse on the cover is to die for- and I see myself making about 5 of them for people for Christmas time. lol The Fair Isle patterns are not to difficult and gorgeous. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves to make beautifully feminine pieces for themselves or others.

I got this book for Christmas last year. Almost all of the projects are ones I will actually make (many books have one, or two, and the rest are junk).

The patterns are mostly easy to follow, and the results are beautiful. While many of the items are not things I would wear myself they make great gifts, and are a good base to use when making up your own patterns. A GREAT idea book and great for gifts.