The Little Box of Scarves [Box set] [Misc. Supplies]

Melissa Matthay (Author), Sheryl Thies (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2004

This elegant box is filled with 20 hand-knit scarf patterns for every season. Sturdy, laminated project cards feature scarf photos with size, schematics, and materials information on the front; step-by-step directions are printed on the back.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin

Melissa Matthay is a yarn-shop owner and designer for top yarn manufacturers such as Colinette and Tahki. Sheryl Thies is a writer and knitting instructor at Melissa’s shop, The Knitting Tree. Melissa and Sheryl are also the authors of Basically Brilliant Knits.

Product Details

• Misc. Supplies: 42 pages
• Publisher: Martingale and Company (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564775496
• ISBN-13: 978-1564775498
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #375,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A writer and knitting instructor, Sheryl Thies is also the coauthor of four
other Martingale titles. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Handle with Care......, March 18, 2005

By 

catsny "cathy" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Box of Scarves (Misc. Supplies)

Neat packaging, and pretty pictures, but don't invest in this unless you enjoy hunting for substitute yarns and experimenting. MANY of the "called-for" yarns are already discontinued by the manufacturers (in early 2005 - book published in 2004). Of course, you can use substitutes, but unless you're familiar with the original yarn, deciding what will be a good substitute won't be easy, and these are largely "novelty" yarns, not easily matched.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag - er, Box of Scarves, May 11, 2006

By 

Meredith Mizell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Little Box of Scarves (Misc. Supplies)

While I thoroughly enjoy the novelty packaging of these patterns, a number of the actual designs are rather lackluster. The box is fun, and I admit I have some sort of container fetish that surely influences my opinion, while the laminated cards are a good size and tough enough to travel. Best of all, I can stick a Post-It note to the back of the card and use it to keep track of my rows! As far as the box goes, the one downside I found was that the inside had a horrible plastic stink when I first got it and hasn't really dissipated over time. It's a little off-putting to open up the box and get a whiff of that.

As for the patterns, I've never been very concerned with using the yarn called for, so I haven't run into any problems with discontinued brands. My favorites are the lace scarves - they're simple enough to not be utterly exhausting over the full length of the scarf, but still complex enough to keep my attention. (And they're pretty, to boot.) Another pattern that's become a standby of mine is the Farrow Rib scarf - it's a nice twist on a traditional ribbed scarf and I just can't get enough of it because I can just put my mind on autopilot while I knit and still get an interesting result.

Unfortunately, a few of the patterns here rely on novelty yarns rather than stitch patterns or such, and they're just unimpressive because they fade from the vernacular very quickly. The Big Lace scarf and the Bold and Beautiful scarf in particular are a little too obvious and don't feel like good company for the numerous lace scarves, which seem more enduring. I'm sure the authors had variety in mind here, but it comes across as a bit scattered.

All that said, I would recommend this for a beginning knitter who's gotten tired of plain old garter stitch or ribbed scarves and would like to make a foray into more complicated stitch patterns without having to worry about shaping, etc. OR for intermediate knitters who are looking for some stash-gobbling projects with a bit of challenge.

In the end, it's worth having on hand, because you can never have too many patterns for inspiration!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not very impressed...., September 27, 2004

By 

girlkris (tampa bay, fl) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Box of Scarves (Misc. Supplies)

I have to say I wasn't very impressed with this item. The laminated cards are nice, but I personally didn't understand the instructions too well - a few illustrations to explain the required stitches would have been nice. As far as the scarf designs, again, not that impressive. Yes, several of them were pretty, but I don't think anything was overly creative - once a specific stitch or two is learned, I'd think one would be able to come up with a similar design without having to spend the money on a box of designs. I'm new to knitting, so a more experienced knitter would probably have no problem understanding the instructions. But I would assume an experienced knitter probably doesn't need these cards to come up with the designs? But you might, so if you're looking for some nice scarf ideas and you don't need illustrations to figure out the stitches, then you will probably be happy with this item. As for me, I sent it back.