Customer Reviews

Tweed: More Than 20 Contemporary Designs to Knit

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

 

 

Nancy Thomas is apparently Creative Director for Tahki Yarns, and Tahki's tweed yarns are used exclusively here. The book is organized by difficulty level, and it includes projects ranging from scarves and blankets to felted bags and sweaters. Techniques include striping, cables, mitered squares, and intarsia. The projects all use worsted or bulky yarns, so many should work up pretty quickly, and if one doesn't wish to use the Tahki yarns called for by the patterns, substituting should be simple.

My favorite items in the book are the sweaters, which tend toward classic silhouettes and understated cabling--if you love the ubiquitous Central Park Hoodie, there a few sweaters to like here (though some are bit more outre). The size range here is good, with most garments sized from 34"-50". That said, the garments are almost exclusively for women; there's a unisex vest (a Norah Gaughan design) and a few unisex accessories, and there are no children's garments.

All in all, it's a lovely book, and I look forward to making a number of projects from it.

Nancy's Tweed book contains a wealth of lovely textured (cable) knits, and some color work, in a variety of warm & fashionable sweater, vest, cardigan & accessory designs. I was pleased with the patterns (both written & charted), sizings and garment styles (mostly women's, but some unisex)...favorites are a large mitered square scarf, a fresh cabled pullover,cozy classic cardigan, and an interesting vest where the cables morph into various pattern designs as you knit upward.

Only regret is the very short section on pattern stitches that work well for tweed yarns.

This book has been amply reviewed by two other reviewers but its star rating has been knocked down by a worthless review from a third reviewer. I want to get that star rating back up where it belongs because this is a wonderful book about tweed knitting.

I love tweed yarn. I love the flecks of color and nubbiness of it. (Big fan/collector of Texas Ware spatter bowls! Check 'em out, other tweed lovers.) But not every knitting design looks good in my favorite yarn. Here's a whole book of designs that are peachy for tweed. I like every design in this book. I like the history of tweed yarn and technical glossary for tweed yarn section. The pictures are lovely. It's an attractive book.

I just got the book in the mail today so I have not tried any of the patterns yet (verified whether they are flawless or have errata). I am intending to do 15 of the 20 designs which is a good percentage of interesting designs and makes my purchase of this book a good buy.

Who should pay attention to my appraisal? People like me...I am a person who prefers to dress casually rather than formally. I love flecked colors and bright colors. I like geometric designs. Although an advanced beginner knitter (or low-level intermediate), I can do textured knitting such as cables and seed stitch. I am not at all fond of frou-frou lacy stuff. As both an advanced sewer (40+years) and a relatively new knitter (2+ years), I favor simple & comfortable patterns but I am not afraid of a challenge (I'm a can-do kind of person). I LOVE Texas Ware bowls (I mentioned that already didn't I?) -- simple, light-weight, colorful, and very useful. This is a knitting book for Texas Ware bowl lovers.

I don't care for tweed yarns as I want soft ones for myself. But they are all worsted weight, size 4 and therefore lots of yarns will work in these patterns. I fell in love with the Dublin cabled vest by Gaughan and then saw how many other great projects are included. Here's what I like: coastal cabled scarf, Carrick pullover. moss cabled cardigan, Scottish iles pullover, Ulst mitered scarf, Harris style sampler cardigan, Isle of Skye jacket, Chanel style tweed jacket, outer Hebrides sampler throw. There are a few others I know I won't make but this is probably more than half the book. I think it's so good because the author/editor was always an excellent editor wherever she worked. This book has projects by others as well as by her. This is one of the nicest books I own.

If you enjoy knitting with tweed yarns, this book is worth at the minimum checking out from the library. The book has a nice introduction with some history on tweed and information on how tweed yarn is made.

The photography is very good with some beautiful pictures of yarn throughout. The models are occasionally a bit odd looking, but the garments themselves are well-photographed.

There are about 25 patterns, including several hats, scarves and bags. There are a few sweaters as well, and a couple of throws. Of the hats and scarves, I found at least one hat and a couple of scarves I thought were well worth the time to knit. Personally, I found most of the sweaters unextraordinary, and I won't take the time to knit any of them. The throws were nice, but also not fantastic. The book does include a "Chanel-Style Tweed Jacket" which is beautiful and unique.

Overall, the book is a pleasure to browse through and contains some nice patterns.

Tweed is a fantastic book. Full of information on how tweed wool is created. There's a variety of patterns, including beautiful, timeless looking sweaters in a multitude of sizes. This book has been well thought out and the results are well appreciated if you love to work with tweedy wool.