Nicky Epstein's Knitting For Your Home: Afghans, Pillows, and Accents [Paperback]

Nicky Epstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000

Those who know knitting know Nicky, and will welcome this book filled with her wonderfully original ideas for decorating and enhancing your home. Here are 30 tasteful designs that will fit any decor from traditional to modern, including lampshades, throws, pillows and placemats, with lots of fun embellishment techniques described.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Knitters with a sense of humor and a delight in the whimsical will enjoy the imaginative designs in Knitting for Your Home. A knitwear designer and author known for her color work and lavish use of embellishment, Epstein is the Tracey Ullman of knittingDfluent in all knitting dialects and adding her quirky touch to each. This compendium of home-accessory designs employs a variety of knitting techniques from fair isle to intarsia to mosaic knitting to Aran to lace knitting. Each project is graded for knitters from beginning to expert and includes written instructions and full-color photos of the finished article. Beginning knitters may want to try the shingles (as in "building shingles") pillow made by knitting each shingle separately and then knitting them together from the bottom up in rows. Knitters with intermediate skills will delight in the sheep pillow made by sewing yards of scalloped edging to a round knit background and adding a whimsical knitted head. One projectDan intricate intarsia sampler afghanDis described as "Advanced (suicidal)." Recommended for public libraries and textile collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561582948
• ISBN-13: 978-1561582945
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #700,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nicky Epstein is one of today's most prolific and versatile knitwear designers, authors and teachers. She has gained worldwide recognition for her artistic, distinctive and innovative work, whimsical sense of style and informative workshops. Her designs continue to be featured in many knitting magazines and publications, on television, and in museums.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Unusual Designs for Your Money, October 1, 2000

By 

Lynne E. (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Nicky Epstein's Knitting For Your Home: Afghans, Pillows, and Accents (Paperback)

If you like Nicky Epstein's work, you will probably like this book, although it doesn't plow as much new ground as Epstein's "Embellishments".

For technical knitting enthusiasts, the book has patterns for some rather unusual knitted items: lampshades, comical three-dimensional animal pillows, and decorative felted apples (replacing traditional wax fruit). There are also some very challenging intarsia afghan patterns: a knitted version of an embroidered "wedding proposal" sampler, and a knitted medieval tapestry with interwoven animal, bird, and plant figures.

Other interesting items include an afghan made up of highly textured (three-dimensional) counterpane squares, a colorful Fair Isle afghan using Zodiac symbols (not the more usual pictorial figures), and a Christmas afghan with graceful trumpeting angels.

In fact, there are a lot of pretty afghan and pillow projects in this book, utilizing cables, geometric design, intarsia, and multicolored or textured yarns, and ranging in difficulty from easy to expert. There are even some attractive knitted lace doily and placemat patterns.

Like any book of knitting patterns, this one will be worth the price if even one of the designs is a "gotta make" pattern for you.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for accents, July 13, 2001

By 

Gwen Kramer "gwenhwyvar" (Sunny and not-so-sunny California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nicky Epstein's Knitting For Your Home: Afghans, Pillows, and Accents (Paperback)

This book isn't as bad as it is made out to be. The designs are mainly good for accents, not for decorating your entire home with and I think that the animal pillows would be adorable in a child's bedroom. All in all, a good book if you have a room that needs just a little bit of zaniness. As a twenty year old knitter, I am more open to wilder themes. If you want some lovely afghans or some crazy additions to your home, then this is the book for you.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous Victorian stuff! (and some weird stuff, too), March 25, 2002

By 

itsjustme (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nicky Epstein's Knitting For Your Home: Afghans, Pillows, and Accents (Paperback)

If you like the Victorian style, I think you'll love many of the designs in this book. I've never seen knitting patterns like this before, and find this book extraordinary.

There's an afghan that takes it's inspiration from Victorian needlepoint (a.k.a., Berlinwork), with a black background and jewel tone fruits; a striking Christmas afghan with a dark background and trumpeting angels; a cable afghan with raised fruits; a diamond lace afghan with insertions of ribbon; a knitted photo frame; a cute "gentleman's sampler" that looks like it's a quilt made of squares from old sweaters; and knitted lampshade covers that are very feminine and Victorian/Edwardian. There's also an amazing afghan that's inspired from an old tapestry. The piece de resistance is an afghan that looks like it's copied from an 18th or early 19th century embroidery sampler.

Then there are items that would fit into any home: A classy cable afghan & pillow; a glorious counterpane afghan and pillow that's very feminine; a diamond afghan; some pretty pillows; and an afghan with what looks like appliqued knitted leaves on it.

I also really appreciate the few doily patterns that are included.

There are wackier things, too, which I like less: Knitted animal pillows; three-dimensional fruits for a fruit bowl; a not-very-attracrtive teddy bear; a fur pillow; an afghan featuring a golfer and a pillow that looks like a giant golf ball; and some "celestial" and almost hippie looking designs.

This book's problem doesn't come so much from it's designs, in my opinion, as from the difficulty of the projects. A few might be suitable for a beginner (some of the pillows and maybe the lampshades); others are rated "intermediate," but it seems that most are pretty complicated.

Even so, this book is inspiring, if nothing else! I highly recommend it.