Customer Reviews

A Treasury of Rowan Knits: 80 Patterns from Favorite Designers

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

 

 

If you're new to knitting, here's something you need to know: if you seen a yarn or pattern you love, don't go home and mull it over, or put it in next year's budget. GRAB IT. Because the knitting world is very exclusive. Yarns come and go; they're issued like fashion collections and disappear just as quickly. And patterns, well, you may think of them like a classic -- Moby Dick can always be found, right? It's more like a magazine. You'll see it around for a month or two, and then good luck tracking down another copy if you didn't save it. It's one of the reasons knitters turn into such hoarders and savers, afraid to let go of that 12 inches of Scottish Heather because who knows where they'll find that yarn again? And of all the yarn companies and pattern designers, Rowan was worst of all.
Their pattern books were more like vintages of wine. Good luck getting your hands on a good year once the word is out. Until now. FINALLY. Finally, someone at Rowan has had the sense to realise that these patterns are wanted, needed, and they deserve to live on with new knitters discovering them and experienced knitters turning back to them again and again, if not to knit, that just to enjoy the design work, or get an idea for a collar or sleeve. This doesn't have all of Rowans patterns, but it has many of the best, and a smattering of all the patterns and designers. It's got some stunning works and many ideas from the best design handknit design company in the world today. A must-have, and a great deal.

This book promises 80 patterns from 10 favorite disigners.
However, 90% of the patterns are by Kim Hargreaves. The other designers have one or two patterns each. Very disappointing, if you are looking for a variety of designer choices. Many of the photos are soft focus, example: the full page photo on page 199 is really fuzzy. There is a blue sweater on page 171 which one can not even make out what it looks like. Not what I expect from a book with a $39.95 retail price and the Roawn name. It has some nice designs, but gets boring due to the same designer contributing most of the patterns. I give it 3 stars because it does contain some good patterns and the patters come in many sizes. The book also presents variations of some patterns by showing them made with different yarns, for men & women and children. Some good children's patterns are included. I'll keep it for future reference, but check it out before you shell out the bucks, it might be worth it to you. It is not a bad book. I am just a little disappointed and feel that Rowan should be up front with their content and good with their photos.

I'll preface this by saying I've never been a fan of Rowan yarns or patterns - the former because they tend to be too tame and expensive for my tastes, the latter because they seem aimed at bony women. I spoke with their reps and mentioned the fact that they are excluding a large share of knitters and was told that they didn't know whether it would be thought offensive to have a separate book of larger patterns or if they should pepper them throughout another book. Two years later, I think continuing to ignore larger or plus-sized women and men is the offensive part.

On the upside, the patterns really are gorgeous (which is why I'm upset that I can't wear or alter them) and use varied techniques and skill levels, so everyone can find something they like. A number of child patterns are repeated in "Pipsqueaks" and "Tadpoles and Tiddlers", so if you only want to make kid clothes, check those out first - you may save a few dollars. I traded Brown Sheep for Rowan yarn and my Odd Job sweater is coming along nicely, so just match fibers in the back yarn listing and hit your gauge to substitute.

Great collection of the designs for every taste. I found myself going crazy trying to deside which one to do first. Lamb's Pride from Brown Sheep is an excellent affordable substitute for discontinued Rowan yarn.

I thought instructions were clear and complete. I found no mistakes so far.

This book is very disappointing! Although the patterns are lovely and timeless, the vast majority of them are done in cotton yarn with very small needles. If you enjoy knitting with worsted weight yarn, forget this book unless you enjoy rewriting patterns.

On top of this, everything is graphed, even plain knit & purl patterns. All of the graphs are shown in such a small scale that you would go blind trying to follow them and some of them spread over two pages. In addition, the graph lines in between every tenth one are very faint. If you want to use these graphs, it is essential that you have a scanner and computer program to enlage them. Of course you will have to print them out over several overlapping pieces of paper and hope the tiny graph lines show up - or write them all out by hand!

Some of these patterns scream of the early nineties and we are not yet so far from that era that their designs have become fashionable again. That said, most of the patterns are in classic shapes and colors and there is a lot to knit here. However, as Rowan changes their yarns often, the yarns called for in this book are often unavailable. Good gauging and yarn substitution is a requirement for pursuing any of the patterns in this book. That said, I have gauged and substituted successfully with one pattern from this book, using wools in the same weight from another source. The resulting sweater is a favorite and I intend to make other projects in the book. In addition, some of the shapes are so classic that they could be used as jumping off points for your own designs.

Another reviewer complained about size. These run through a standard extra large and could easily be sized one size up. True plus size options are not available and not an option with the construction techniques shown.

Final Answer: Good Collection - Not Great

The patterns are gorgeous and well described. The book is like art work. Thanks, Penny