Customer Reviews

One Skein

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I couldn't wait to get started on the patterns in this book. The day I bought it, I immediately began knitting the adorable Petal Bib, which used less than a skein of cotton yarn that I had in my stash. It was a hit at the baby shower I attended! A few days later, I made the Stash Handbag using a leftover skein of Lopi and other yarns I had on hand. It came out beautifully, and I have gotten compliments on it just about every day.

One Skein features lovely, inspired, and practical items that can be made from a single skein of yarn (or less). Baby bibs and sweaters, handbags (some felted, some not), mittens, cabled scarves, wrist warmers, a tank top made with laceweight yarn . . . every project is stunning, as is the photography and the layout.

So far, I have found the patterns to be easy to follow and error-free. This isn't a book for a beginning knitter, but if you know the basics, you can make many of these projects. And you'll learn new techniques (such as cables, I-cords, or short-rows) along the way. As an added bonus, since the projects only use one skein, they are mostly quick to knit and would make wonderful gifts.

One of my favorites is the Labyrinth Rug, which is a spiral made up of odds and ends of colors knit up and wrapped around cotton piping. What a simple, easy, and beautiful way to use your leftovers! It's not just a rug, but a colorful record of the many things you've knitted.

I love this book of small one-skein knitted projects. I've knit the adorable baby hat, the felted clutch purse, the cable footies, and I have my eyes on making the felted bowls, the baby petal bib, and the spiral rib bag. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. This has become one of my favorite knitting books ever, since I love small projects that are beautiful and don't bore me before they are done and become abandoned to closet corners. I also love the pictures in this beautiful book; I'm inspired just looking at the lovely yarns. By the way, the baby hat is lovely done in Rowan wool cotton.

The 30 projects are:
Put It On:
Leg Warmers, Tank Top, Cable Footies, Silk Sleeves, Unisex Gloves, Asymmetrical Cable Hat, Rib and Cable Quartet (scarves), Fingerless Garter Mitts, Crochet Cap and Ruffle Cravat.

Take It With You:
The Clutch You'll Never Give Up, Spiral Rib Bag, Geometric Accessory Bags (3 choices)

Dress Up Baby:
Petal Bib, Baby Bolero (sweater), Baby Hat

Make Your House a Home:
Mohair Pillows, Bath Mitt and Puffy, Bath Mat, Felted Bowls, Candy Wrapper Sachets

Rediscover Your Stash:
Cupcakes, Pom-Pom Boa (scarf like thing), Felted Striped Tote, Kid's Color-Block Cardigan, Stash Handbag, Labyrinth Circle Rug

This book is a variant on the "oddball" idea. What do you do with one lone skein of yarn? You know the problem; you go to a knitting store and there is one simply cuddly, interesting, fascinating, pretty orphan ball of yarn (or it's leftover in your stash) and what on EARTH do you do with it? Here are some ideas.

There is a very fine baby jacket made of one ball of each color to make a color block design (well, it isn't EXACTLY one skein, but sure uses up oddball colors.) But the real prize are the felted projects like felted small bags and felted bowls. These are great for gifts. There is also a novel boa made of pom-poms (leftovers really work here) and a couple of stylish mohair pillows with buttons. My absolute favorite, however, are the knitted cupcakes. Using a ribbing for the cupcake "cup" and frosting of furry novelty yarn, you can make a number of these intriguing non-edible confections, dress them up with bugle bead jimmies or a button cherry on top. A box of these would make a great gift and look really intriguing on a knick-knack shelf. Or just give them to the kids to play tea party. A lot of fun and could make a hilarious mom-child project or for a class art project. Terrific.

I've only had this book a handful of days and have tried several patterns. I have found them simple and fun. The felted bowls are among my favorite projects. I have already made a few for gifts - what cute Easter baskets! Most of the patterns are basic, making it easy to add your own embellishments. I had hoped or a few more felting projects, plus a bit more on embellishing ideas - which uses those tiny, commonly useless amounts of yarn. This books offers incentive to buy that oddball skein of yarn - that you have absolutely no use for, but you just love it too much to leave it on the shelf. Many of the ideas could be done without a pattern, but sometimes, it's nice for someone else to figue it all out.

I love this book. The patterns are adorable, fun, creative and yet practical. The book itself is portable so it's great to take to the park or a coffee shop.
I have made two of the clutches and the felted bowl. Both without having to buy any new yarn. For a knitter on a budget this book is a godsend. It allows you use up your stash but the projects don't look as if you have used all your leftovers. I especially love the cupcake pattern. My four year old wants me to make her a bakery full!

I must confess I love that she uses Lamb's pride bulky. It is by far my favorite yarn. It's beautiful and really affordable.
I plan on making every project in this book.

I'd heard a lot about this book through podcasts and knitting websites so I almost bought it sight unseen. I'm glad I took the time to get it from the library first. I had imagined that the book would be full of original and creative projects using a single skein. Instead I found a lot of rather obvious projects like gloves, and a mini scarf. These are the sort of one skein projects I could have thought of on my own.

There were also several projects that I just wouldn't want to keep if I made them. For example, the knit cupcakes were cute, but I wouldn't know what to do with them, so making them seemed like a waste of yarn.

In short, I love the premise but was disapointed by the book.

I sometimes have a short attention span with my knitting, so quick projects are right up my alley.
These projects are a great way to get rid of the orphaned balls of yarn I just couldn't bear to part with.
Looks like I'll be making lots of holiday gifts from this book this year. I love those geometric accessory bags and the cupcakes!

Every now and then or when I need to knit a lot of items as gifts, I like quick, easy, fun yet satisfying ideas and patterns. This book has a ton of them.
So far, I have made the cabled hat, unisex gloves and the clutch. In fact I have made eight clutches. I absolutely love that pattern and when I need a break from a long project like a time consuming sweater, I just whip out one of these bags and it gives me the gratification I need to get back to the project at hand.
This is by far, my favorite book of patterns and in all honesty the one I've completed the most projects from too. I highly recommend this book for both beginners and those that are more experienced and want some quick knits.

When I first saw this book I thought, NO WAY. There aren't many things (other than socks or a scarf) that you can make out of one left over skein. What I have found is that your left over skeins can make all kinds of amazing things.

The first and most important thing about this book is that the directions are super clear. It also contains what I think should be every new knitters first pattern (the felted bowl). I tested this theory on two new knitters and found that they both could finish knitting the bowl in about one hour and found the experience very rewarding. Say goodbye to the beginner scarf and hello to the beginner bowl.

I actually bought this book for the tank top. I wanted to know how in the world you made a whole tank top with one skein. And the answer is, buy the book. It is possible. There are incredible house wears (bowls, knitted cupcakes, lavender scented drawer stuffers). There are socks, tops, and gloves. This book is full of great patterns. Truly a must have for every knitters collection.

Clear instructions and great pictures, but do you really want to, or need to, knit a bath puff or yarn cupcakes? I was hopeful the other 28 patterns might prove useful, but I'm not convinced legwarmers are back in style or that any man I know would wear the "gaiter" and oddly short "triple cable muffler" pictured on pages 36 & 37. I returned the book. Don't buy "One-Skein Wonders" either.