71 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A knitting book that is destined to occupy a prominent place on your nightstand!, April 28, 2006
This review is from: Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn (Paperback)
Pour yourself a copy of coffee, sit down in your favorite chair, and get ready to spend some delightful time "chatting" with Wendy Johnson, a knitting wonder and a downright warm and friendly individual. That is exactly how I felt when I started reading Wendy's wonderful book during an incredibly hectic week in my life. Even though I had a million deadlines to make, I couldn't put Wendy's book down, so I just kept reading and smiling as each chapter put into beautiful and often times humorous language all I have ever felt about knitting.
This book has it all. It is written in a style reminiscient of Elizabeth Zimmerman's incredible books Knitting in the Round and Knitter's Almanac. Like Zimmerman, Wendy shares her abundant knitting wisdom gained over a lifetime with her readers. Those of you have enjoyed her blog over the years as I have will be pleased to know that most of the book is new material; Wendy does not simply repeat a lot of information from her website. Instead, she gives insight into her background before WendyKnits and gives her readers a behind-the-scenes look at her knitting acitivities and adventures that provided the content for her blog. She also shares a wealth of knitting information including tips about knitting techniques, types of knitting equipment, and discussions of knitting traditional garments. Her tips on Fair Isle knitting in particular are invaluabe and are even expanded a bit from her coverage of it on her blog.
She also provides great patterns for a range of knitters from all levels. Beginners could build their skill-level by starting with her easier projects and then move up to the more sophisticated garments such as her incomparable traditional Swedish two-color garment, Ingrid. Her pattern instructions are incredibly clear with the added bonus of being presented in both chart and written-direction form so that knitters have a choice. The chart symbols that she uses are my favorite kind since they are simple and easy to read.
If you are looking for a wonderful knitting narrative to give you hours of enjoyment with the bonus of great patterns in an easy-to-read format, this is the book for you. My only recommendation would be that if you are interesed in looking at glossy, colorful photos of beautiful sweaters, check out Wendy's blog in addition to buying her book because the photos in the book are in black and white (and they are still gorgeous!).
This book will definitely occupy a prominent spot on my night stand so that I can read it over and over again to hear Wendy's delightful humor and insight on the subject I love best -- knitting.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great info in a bargain-basement format, February 19, 2007
This review is from: Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn (Paperback)
Anyone who's familiar with Wendy Knit's popular blog will know exactly what they're getting from this book. What disappointed me was the quality of the book, and the pattern choices. With the number of gorgeous, full-color knitting books on the store shelves, this one definitely pales in comparison. The photos of the finished objects are in black-and-white, and are so dark they're hard to see any detail. Add to that the fact that the patterns themselves are rather bland and blah, and you may want to think twice before purchasing this book. But if you love Wendy (and who doesn't??) go ahead. Then write to her publisher and tell her you want the next book to include color photos. I'd glady pay a few more bucks for a better-quality book.
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73 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
She Did It!, April 28, 2006
This review is from: Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn (Paperback)
She did it! -like the song from My Fair Lady about Professor Higgins - Wendy did it -she did it!
Got Wendy Knits yesterday and read Wendy Knits yesterday - reading it was like eating cheetos - I couldn't stop! - even tired and blearly eyed - I had to keep reading - what...what was going to happen next? I had to find out!
I absolutely LOVED her chapter on knitting socks - from the way she describes how she got interested in knitting socks, how she designs them (the dimensions and specs) to fit a person's foot to the end of the chapter when her friend asked for the pair that Wendy had made for her when... but wait, I don't want to give it away.
I've been reading Wendy's Blog for years, so I knew that Wendy is a real knitting mensch. Now, you get to know that too - she's extremely generous sharing her knowledge and experience with knitting with her readers - you'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll learn from her mistakes. And, most amazingly, Wendy in Wendy Knits captures the adventure, the excitement, the exploration, the discovery and the creation that is knitting! BRAVO Wendy - you did it! Her's is the first knitting book I've read that really is all about that! It's not about the finished object, although there are wonderfully written and clearly charted patterns for scarves, socks, sweaters, shawls and cat toys and cat beds - and good clear B&W photographs of real women (and cats) (and even Wendy!) modeling the different knitted pieces -and good clear instructions for different techniques - lace, cables, color work - using different types of yarn - wool, silk, alpaca - and even a discussion of the many folk traditions of knitting - aran, gansey, fair aisle, Norweigen and Swedish - But the bottom line is that this book is about what makes knitting so important to many people these days - it's about the search, the adventure, the discovery, the design, and the creation that knitting is! And, last, and maybe most importantly, you'll learn all about the great Lucy - but, I will say no more...
BRAVISSIMO Wendy! And you, reading this review which has gotten to be much longer than I intended, curious knitter that you are or may yet be, these are your marching orders should you choose to accept them: get this book, do not delay, do not pass go and collect [...]- and do get ready for a fun time - with or without a marguerita [...].
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