Customer Reviews

Odd Ball Knitting: Creative Ideas for Leftover Yarn

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you are looking for a treasury of patterns for your oddiments of yarn, this may not be the book for you. However, this reasonably priced volume has the "how" of oddball knitting, including calculating how much yarn you have, weights, lengths to finish a row, how to combine colors and most importantly, how to safely store your stash of yarn. The patterns include a stunning shawl, scarves, hats, purses, socks and an Amish-inspired afghan.

There are 31 patterns in all, but the main use of this book is to know HOW to combine yarns to make something out of nearly nothing. If you are bothered by those golf-ball sized bits of sock yarn after making a pair of socks, or want to use a single ball of novelty yarn that was so tempting you bought just ONE, this is for you. But this book demands you use YOUR creativity, so don't look for designs here, just seeds for design ideas.

For knitters looking to clear the stash out from under the bed (to make room for-let's be honest here-more yarn), Barbara Albright has written Odd Ball Knitting. In this book, Albright provides a plethora of tips and patterns for knitters looking to do a little stash-busting. From small patterns that use just a little bit of yarn (like finger puppets or scarves or sachets) to larger projects that use different kinds of yarn to create one unique piece (like a colorful striped poncho or shawl), Albright provides plenty of solutions for stashes of every size and color palette.

While many of the projects are pretty standard-projects that you can find on the pages other knitting books and magazines-Albright does something that no one else has done. She puts them together in one stash-focused book to aid the stash-stumped. She also throws in tips for storing yarn, stash-busting, and even for figuring out just how much yarn is left on a partially-used ball. The chart provided in the back of the book also allows you to choose projects based on what you've got stored behind your sofa.

If your home is under siege by yarn balls of various colors and sizes and you don't feel like flipping through your collection of books and magazines to search for just the right pattern, Odd Ball Knitting will get you started on the road to stash-free living. Or at least it'll help you clear up some room for the next clearance sale at your local yarn shop.

I got this book out from the library and liked it so much I'm buying it--even though I've sworn off buying knitting books. It has great tips for getting rid of all those half-balls, quarter-balls, 3-4 yards of your very, very favorite yarn ever. As well as hints for preventing and dealing with moth infestations, storing yarn, and fantastic technical details about figuring out how much yarn you need for a project. It has some nifty patterns, but you can find all sorts of stuff on-line for free. The real value of this book is helping get your creative juices flowing. Note that, since it's for people with lots of leftover yarn, it's written for *experienced* knitters, not beginners! It's published in paperback, which helps keep the cost down. If you've got more than one giant box of leftover or neglected yarn, this book is for you (as well as anything by Kaffe Fassett).

Plenty of knitters wind up with odds and ends in yarn stashes which just keep growing: now there's a use for these stashes in Oddball Knitting: Creative Ideas For Leftover Yarn. Patterns for the projects are arranged within chapters by the amount and type of yarn required, so it's easy to link a project based on what's available in a leftover stash. You can make a rug or poncho if you have a lot - or can provide mini-holiday stockings if you have just a little. Of course, there's the usual anticipated scarf projects - but there's plenty of original new designs to pique interest. The perfect gift for the avid knitter who always has leftover yarn.

I'm SO glad I got this book from the library instead of buying it. It was worth the 75c hold fee, but not much more. I was expecting "stuff you can make with whatever small amounts of yarn you have in your stash", but got "stuff you can make with a few skeins of expensive luxury yarns". There are VERY few projects in here I'd ever consider making. If I should decide I want to make one, I'll check the book out again, but I won't be buying this for myself or anyone else, ever.

When I checked this book out at the library I was hoping for neat ideas for leftover yarn... as the title implies. However, what I got was how to knit scarves, socks, hats, and afghans. There's nothing creative to these patterns at all.. I already have these patterns. If you're looking for something new and funky, don't pick up this book.

I was really anxious to see this book, because I have a lot of leftovers I'd love to use up. Sadly, the book was a huge disappointment. I didn't think the patterns were creative, nor useful, and many are just downright ugly. Nothing enticing about them at all.

Finally -- a designer has recognized the need to provide cute, functional projects that can make use of all the odds and ends sitting in knitters' stashes! There are several projects in this book that I'm itching to get started on. And it's an added bonus knowing I'm using up "leftover" yarn to make them!

I ordered this book expressly because the other reviews said it did cover more of the "how" of stash management. I was pleasantly surpised to find many delightful patterns, and lots of ideas that prodded my own creativity. While this may not be for all knitters, if you are a serious 'knitster' this is a great addition to your library.

I fist saw the book offered in a knitting catalog in November of 2005 and was eager to purchase the book and put to use some of my lonely skeins of yarn. They nor several other companies that offered the book were able to get it from the publisher. I kept calling these places on a weekly basis and one company even called me and told me they were giving up on the book. In July of 2006 I discovered it on Amazon and placed an order and it arrived in no time. After skimming through the book I was disappointed that I put so much time and effort into trying to obtain the book. I was inot impressed with the patterns offered in the book. The patterns in the book one can find in most other knit books.