Customer Reviews

Romantic Style: Knits And Crochet to Wear or Display

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

 

 

Rowan fans will recognize from the cover, that, yes, this book does contain some repeat projects from past issues of Rowan. Not to worry - there are plenty of new projects in here as well, plenty to make owning the book worthwhile, in my opinion. All the styles are soft and feminine with a vintage mood. The three chapters, "Out and About," "Home Comforts," and "Little Extras" include a variety of blouses, sweaters, wraps, and accessories as well as a few home decor items. The garments are sized up to a 38-40" bust measurement. Atkinson offers some lovely and unique items, such as a lacy hooded shrug with a beaded edging and jewelry crocheted in metallic yarn with beads crocheted in. Many of the items are beautifully accented with knit-in beads, ribbons, buttons, lace edgings, and crocheted flowers.

This book is probably not intended for first-time knitters or crocheters, but many of the projects are simple enough for beginners, while others will be stimulating and interesting for the more experienced. This book does not include basic knit or crochet instructions, but does include more specialized directions for crochet and a section of motifs and edgings to practice on (also from a previous issue of Rowan), as well as a few tips for using beads, assembling projects, and yarn substitution.

I'm just itching to get started on the Lacy Bed Socks and the luxurious, full-length Dressing Gown.....

Very pretty and very Rowan. I love their stuff. Well, sometimes they do play up the English eccentric thing a little too much, and their last mag was full of mostly unwearable stuff, but I digress. For shame, Rowan, and the publishers - why should I have to buy the book to find out that many of the patterns have been published before? There should be a warning. If you've bought rowan's magazines, then you have at least a quarter of these patterns. If you haven't, you're fine. That is, if you like impractical knitting. A lot of this is gorgeous but a little bit ridiculous. How many people are prepared to spend ages knitting gorgeous hanger covers with very fine yarn on skinny needles - when their work is going to be covered by clothes? Same with the bolster cover. Then there's a lovely dressing gown, which would be great for my home country but hopeless for centrally heated winters, as it's made in R's kid classic. ie wool and mohair. Would probably weigh a ton too.

Anyway, I have it, it's very pretty, and I like the section which gives a few crochet motifs, but that's about it.

In my case, I wanted the Butterfly dress pattern, and you can either buy this book or a copy of Rowan 37, and they cost about the same. True to Rowan style, the patterns are generally well written and made for a knitter who is buying the pattern(s) not looking for a knitting book with instructions. Although some patterns are appropriate for beginners, there aren't many first projects here, mostly because of the emphasis on "romantic" styles which translates to patterned stitches.

Some of the projects written here are obviously gorgeous, but highly impractical: namely the "dressing gown" made with size 8 needles and taking 18 balls of Rowan Kid Classic. However, there are some really nice patterns that are highly wearable, such as the Chevron pullover. Mostly, the book is true to giving you a good vocabulary of the kinds of garments which might be "Romantic" styles, and geared for the knitter who is looking to add some interest to their regular knitting repetoire. There are projects incorporating beads and also a good mini-primer on crocheted picot edging, something which you could add to any knitting project to given it a romantic feel.

It is a worthwhile book to have, like I said, if there is at least one or two projects you definitely want to make, as Rowan does not sell their patterns separately. Besides, as to the impractical - the title of book is subtitled: Knits and Crochet to Wear OR Display.

I bought this book for the dressing gown pattern. I will never make it, because it drags on the ground, and will be full of dog hair the minute I put it on. But, I can dream, can't I?
The title almost scared me off, because I have bought knitting and crochet books that have had more crochet than knitting. This one seems to be the other way around, so I should warn crocheters. Knitters may love it, though.
There are quite a few patterns of varying difficulty, and the yarns called for are mostly Rowan. The designer incorporates beads and into several of the patterns that would otherwise be very plain, making easy to knit desings look special.
I would say, for the price, this is a very good book.

I bought this book specifically for the "Butterfly Dress" pattern. While the other patterns are pretty, many are highly impractical. The photography is beautiful, but redundant. There are 3 photos of this dress, but they are all exactly the same. Seems a waste of space. I'd prefer more angles rather than 3 of the exact same photo.

Also, this book is not for newbies. The patterns contain errors (specifically there is an error in the Butterfly Dress chart) and some things (ie decreasing in lace) are left to the knitter to figure out. My biggest problem with this book is that errata is impossible to find, even with a very thorough Google Search.

Every pattern in this book is stunning. I am an experienced crochet/knitter, and I can honestly say I have never seen such beautiful patterns. I normally stick to lace shawls, but the dressing gown project is perfect. A little bit of easy to do, combined with some 'keep your eyes on the lace edging', make it very enjoyable. The experienced knitter will love this, but their are many intermediate projects also. I would not recommend this book for the beginner.

I loved this book - visually - from the moment it first came out. But having tried out several of the patterns, I have to say that this seems to be more of a "coffee table book" than an actual knitting book. The photos are lovely and generous, the yarns are exquisite and romantic is more than apt. But knitting from these patterns is painful. There are no errata to be found and despite being a competent, long-time knitter, I found myself floundering. The finishing instructions for some of the projects are incomplete and unless you are very confident, you would probably not have any idea what you are supposed to infer about finishing off some of the work. I still love how the book looks, but it is probably going to become a display only item.

These are great patterns if you are very thin and look like the "flappers" of the 1920's. For the most part they are very "period" (think Victoria magazine) and would not be something most of us would wear out somewhere. The dressing gown is nice, but why would you put that much money and effort into something that's going to get dirty and rather quickly ratty-looking as soon as it catches on something (which is why I don't knit socks, but that's just me)?

The shrug would be one exception, and made in a different yarn might make a nice beach cover-up. But most will have to adjust the pattern for size.

Several things that were annoying:

The aforementioned lack of size ranges

Pictures from certain angles only, and some repetitive at that; few close-ups of stitch patterns.

Could have put the pattern repeat in (for ex. multiple of 3 plus 2), so that you can use the stitch patterns for other projects--this can often make the book more attractive as a purchase to knitters who aren't models.

Instead of the empty space and extra pictures, would rather have had written instructions for the lace patterns as well as the charts--not everyone likes charts.

The diagrams of the finished garments were confusing and did not have all of the measurements they needed.


Check this out of the library before buying.

Absolutely gorgeous patterns and everything is included, from sweaters to handbags, socks, afghans, jewelry, more! and my favorite, very romantic dressing robes.

I thought the pictures were beautiful in this book, but they didn't really show as much detail of the actual knitting as I would like. I don't think there is much in here that I'll actually knit, but I'd still recommend it for the inspiration.