Customer Reviews

Toy Knits: More Than 30 Irresistible and Easy-to-Knit Patterns

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My main complaint about this book is that there are no graphics/schematics/charts to show the beginner what the individual pieces should look like, and some of the pieces are quite complex in shape, e.g. the top piece of the sheep. Woe to the beginner who encounters an error but is inexperienced and thus doesn't recognize it - I predict lots of frogging! I'm far from being a beginner, but I've had to frog twice on one toy!
My other complaint is the weird notation, e.g. "Inc 1 st in next and 3 foll 3rd row." HUH?? For goodness sake, just say, "Inc 1 st in next row. Knit 2 rows straight. Inc 1 st in next 3 rows."
Take a pass on this book and buy instead World of Knitted Toys by Kath Dalmeny.

This is one of the most fun of the entire Bliss series. The animal designs are creative and many of them are really quite unique. They knit up in nearly "instant-gratification no-time". The only caveats I offer are that one must become familiar with the Bliss language of "following alternate row" and the neverending Bliss staple, "...Next row...". I rewrite the "next row" designations into numbers and the patterns are a snap. Enjoy.

For those curious about what patterns this book contains, here is a partial list: several bunny stuffed animals dressed in different manners, "fairy tale" mice dressed like little people, a monkey, a mouse pirate, a couple teddy bears, an elephant with ice-skating gear, pigs, and a lamb.

The patterns in this book are all knitted in flat pieces, on straight needles (usually US #3 with DK weight yarn). This means that there is a lot of sewing to do to finish them.

I've only started one of the projects, but I already found an error: half of Chart 1 for the cow is missing. (I've decided to fill in the chart myself, copying from the photo where necessary. Hey, it's only a cow spot.) The debbie bliss website (debbieblissonline.com) has errata from her patterns, but this mistake isn't on the list. The website has no contact information(!) but I've sent a note to the publisher, St. Martin's.

As another reviewer said, this book has somewhat confusing directions (the style takes some getting used to) and the lack of schematics can be confusing. On the cow, I learned that you have to join the back legs with the slanted, not straight, portions toward the middle. The directions are ambiguous about this point, but if you don't get it right you'll have to frog or dismantle a lot of knitting to correct it.

About half the designs in the book are teddy bears and bunnies (they come in different sizes and wearing different costumes). The other half include some very cute and ingenious designs - a reindeer, a camel with a saddle, anthropomorphic mice and rats, a monkey with a fez, several farm animals, and a "farm set play mat" that includes miniature versions of the cows, sheep, pigs, and piglets. The miniatures are about 4 inches long; the larger size farm animals are 12-16 inches long. (I'm looking forward to making some little sheep out of wool scraps!)

If you buy this book, join me in pestering the publisher about errata - without schematics or clear directions, it can be hard to tell when you've gone wrong.

I have just finished the ballerina rabbit for my little ballerina's 6th birthday. It came out excellent, and only took a few evenings to make. I substituted yarns with no problem and added buttonholes for buttons because I don't like the ties. Next project from this book will be the dalmation, changed to blue with white spots. It looks like it will tuck very neatly into my 3-yr-old son's arms. A tip: try using leftover matching yarn to stuff knitted animals; that way you won't have to worry about any white stuffing showing through.

Debbie Bliss collects toys and books from the first half of the twentieth century to inspire but not limit her knitting patterns. Multicultural rag dolls and sly pirate rats share the pages with the expected teddies. Clear pictures and instructions, as always.

In one weekend I put together a gorgeous little rabbit, and have half finished the monkey (can't wait to see him finished). These patterns are really simple, and a lot of fun. Can't wait to try more!

I'm a relatively new knitter and I bought this book thinking I could make a toy for my nephew. The toys are very cute and come in a variety of easier and more complex styles.

I had no problem with the knitting (except there were one or two minor errors in the pattern I tried).

Making up the toy was harder for me. People with experience with sewing or with finishing knitted projects could probably put together toys quickly and easily, but I had some difficulties. There are no diagrams showing how the pieces fit together, so I had to figure it out by trial and error from written instructions, and it was harder than I expected.

Also there are no instructions on how to seam the toys to produce the tidy edge shown in the photos. I was able to find such instructions instructions in other knitting books, but it would have been nice for them to be included here.

There is a selection of different animals to knit in this book. Some could have been made nicer by knitting tighter as the stuffing shows a lot on quite a few projects. Not as professional looking toys as I thought I'd see from Debbie Bliss but none-the-less there is a good selection.

Admittedly, I only attempted one of the projects in this book - the sailor doll. I am an experienced knitter, but despite my best efforts, this project was a disaster. I certainly do not plan to attempt another one from this book. The first problem I had was that I had ordered the yarn in accordance with the directions given - weight and amounts, and of the two main colors required for this project, the amounts were totally wrong. The piece required twice as much of one of the colors and four times as much of the other as was stated. This caused quite a bit of inconvenience and additional expense, and, of course, the re-order was not from the same dye lot. I agree with one of the other reviewers that eventually you can get used to the way Ms. Bliss phrases things, but the instructions are annoyingly vague - if you are not also an experienced seamstress, and even if you are, you might have difficulty following the directions for this project.