Customer Reviews

Vintage Baby Knits: More Than 40 Heirloom Patterns from the 1920s to the 1950s

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a must for any knitter who likes knitting for babies; vintage-inspired knitting; and/or knitting with lighter-weight yarns. The patterns -- a whopping 40 of them! -- are inspired by vintage patterns of the 1920s through 1950s, with the patterns updated and clarified, and knit in today's yarns. They include sweaters, a diaper cover, blanket, stuffed toys and many more. Each design is beautifully interpreted and shown in fabulous color photos (with extremely adorable babies modelling them). Production quality is very high: hardcover, full color throughout, schematics, lots of technical info presented in inset boxes. The yarns used range from worsted/DK weight to fingering.

A beautiful addition to any knitter's pattern library and must-have for anyone who likes to knit baby items, either for their own family members or for others.

I am swept away by the beautiful patterns and the wealth of information the author provides on the era's the patterns are inspired from. I'm relativly new to knitting, but after reading the instructions on some of the patterns I adore (which is about 95% of the 40 patterns in this book!), the author has given me the confidence to try knitting them, most of the patterns require straight needles (which are all I have). I can't wait to try these patterns out. If you are even remotely interested in knitting for babies up to age 2 - get this. Cudos to the author/designer!

Okay, maybe not the knit soakers LOL, but this book is great! I will definitely be making lots of these items for my daughter and also for gifts. Some of the patterns are a bit more challenging and others are quite simple. I'm an intermediate knitter, so that's nice for me, I like to have some of both in a pattern book. I couldn't wait to get this book when I saw previews of it and I am not disappointed. I can't wait to get started on my first project - the little shrug.

If you're old enough to have any grandchildren, bring a hankie to the knitting store. You're sure to drool when you look through this book. The patterns are just too cute for words. They'll bring you back to the 1940's, 1950's and even the 1960's.

There are little knitted diapies to cover the understuff. There are ribbons and roses and tough guy sweaters for the little man. It's all there, everything vintage and retro that you can think of.

The patterns are easy to read, there are several that will catch your eye and you will use this book as a resource. It's just that adorable.

I bought this book after seeing all the samples on the author's book tour. The garments are even more adorable in person than in the book's lovely photographs. There are a lot of patterns in this book, with many different kinds of garments, making it a very good value for the money. Texture patterns, colorwork, cables, lace patterns, and garments with interesting construction make for a varied knitting experience. The use of lighter weight yarns makes great use of all the unique sock yarns out there. The author is very knowledgeable about vintage knitting and clothing styles, and provides interesting overviews of the styles and trends that influence her work. All in all, a very beautiful, useful, and satisfying book.

I love this book. The designs are fresh yet classic. As a knitter with over 40 years of knitting experience, I found this book to be quite possibly my all-time favorite for babies. The patterns hold my interest - they have enough complexity that I don't get bored. They're challenging, but not to the point of causing me to break out in a knitting fever. It's a book I'll use again and again, which is more than I can say for most knitting books.

I received a copy of Vintage Baby Knits for Christmas, and immediately started making the Betty Lou Lace Cardigan on page 48 as a gift. I can't believe the glowing reviews for this book, and can only think that most the reviewers haven't actually tried to knit anything from it yet.

I was extremely disappointed that the pattern contained MAJOR errors in the very first row. There is no way this cardigan could have been knit from this pattern, as the increases to this symmetrical garment are shown as happening only at the beginning of the row.

As a very experienced knitter, I believe I know how to fix it, but even had the increases been placed correctly, the resulting quality of the pattern would have been very low. For a garment with 8 stitch markers, there should have been more of an attempt to explain where the increases should be relative to the stitch markers after completing the row.

Needless to say, my confidence in the quality of this book is gone. I'm terribly disappointed by this disaster of a pattern. After checking the publisher's errata web page online, I'm even more disappointed. It doesn't show a correction for the pattern I tried, but for 3 others that I haven't even looked at yet!

I bought this book for my daughter, an avid spinner, dyer and knitter, who is expecting her first child. I loved the book when it arrived, great clothes and wonderful organization, layout, photos, patterns--even some interestingly written history. She loved it when she opened it at her baby shower. Very highly recommended!

My review for this is mostly positive. The photographs are beautiful, the pictures of the finished products draw me in enough to want to make the items. There is a helpful few pages in the back that discusses measurements and needle conversions and such.

I like that there are a variety of items: sweaters, a shrug, different kids of hats, blankets, a cape, and even a few toys. A few of these patterns are gender specific, but most are not and on some just a color change could make it work for the opposite.

A few drawbacks:
YES - there are some errata in the book you should write in and check before proceeding on a few patterns.

Also, this (like many knitting books) uses beautiful but VERY pricey and specific yarns, in my opinion. A smaller baby item may not take many hanks of a yarn but when it costs as much $8-$25 for just one of something....it really can add up.
It's up to you whether you want to make items from the exact same yarn as the author - but I'm willing to guess that I am part of the majority of people that would like to make their own different selections of yarn to use (based on color, price, preference, whatever).
For that reason, I wish this was a book that just included one of the little universal symbols of a skein of yarn with a number on it to signify which weight to use (ex. picture with a 3 - I know it's sport weight right away). The brands of yarn listed in the projects don't always give away what weight it is just by looking at it and you have to look it up on yarndex. com or somewhere else just to be sure. Not a huge deal I guess - but I'd appreciate it if it was that much easier to decide what I was going to substitute with.

While this book doesn't bill itself as a beginner's book, beginners and other skill levels alike may be a little frustrated at the fact that quite a few projects are made in fingering weight yarn. I agree with the author - the delicate little stitches look good and the finished product can definitely make it worth it - HOWEVER, even if the item is small, I am a knitter that just doesn't have the patience it requires most of the time to make up items requiring such small needles and yarn.

This is a great compilation of vintage patterns that look very modern at the same time. Great pictures, few problems. Just beware of the patience required to complete a few of the patterns, and substitutions you should think about.

I love this book! I only wish I knew more people with small children to make the items for. I purchased it for one pattern in particular, the Jasper hooded cardigan, but ended up falling in love with nearly every pattern. One of the great details I like is all the extra information about the state of knitting in each decade from the 20's on.

It's also quite apparent that Rengren put a lot of effort into this book. As knitting has evolved so much, she needed to spend a lot of time reworking the patterns to work with today's techniques, yarns, etc.

This is a great book to add to your collection. I'm sure that any recipient would treasure every stitch of your knitted gifts from this book!