Home Knits: Luxurious Handknits for Every Room of the House (Hardcover)

by Suss Cousins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"She dresses a home the same way she dresses the Hollywood clientele who've come to depend on her look- clean, chic, with just the right dash of surprise."
– Yarn Market News

Product Description
Knitters of all levels looking for new ideas need look no further than Suss Cousins’s luxurious, original designs for the home. The unique SoHo-meets-Sweden style that makes her one of the country’s most sought-after knitters and designers is visible in every pattern.

A thoroughly modern designer who has become a leader in the current knitting renaissance, Suss Cousins’s approach is fresh and inspiring. With her one-of-a-kind knack for mixing colors and textures, it’s no surprise Suss has developed a following among hip knitters everywhere. Some of Hollywood’s hottest stars are among her fans, and thousands of knitters know her work through her stores and classes in New York and Los Angeles, her website, and her new yarn line. Now Suss turns her talents to a whole new area (and a subject that’s close to her own heart): knits for the home.

As much a home design book as a knitting guide, Home Knits includes patterns for 30 projects—from pillows and throws to bedspreads and wall hangings. There’s something for everyone here—from the knitting novice to the seasoned expert—and each project is presented as part of an overall design approach, with ideas and inspiration for using handknits to create a warm, inviting space in every room of the house.

Fill your rooms with the luxury, warmth, and style of handknits. Indulge your knitting passion and make your home a soothing haven for family and friends: Suss Cousins’s handknit designs for the home help you create a living space that is personal, original, and luxurious. Keep the mood easy and uncomplicated with soft seat covers, supple mohair throws, and an array of knitted textures in polished cotton, handpainted wool, and even Ultrasuede. From pillows and placemats to rugs, lamp covers, hand towels, and bed canopies, the projects range from clever accessories you can complete in a few hours to unexpected and original pieces to cherish for years to come.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Potter Craft (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307335917
• ISBN-13: 978-0307335913
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #461,920 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Blah colors, boring designs, silly items., February 25, 2007

By	Fluff City Mama (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

I admit I'm not a fan of knitting odd objects just for the sake of knitting, but even so, I found this book surprisingly uninspiring. The colors range from white to beige, with a little cream and brown thrown in for variety, which some might find soothing but seemed just dull to me. As for the patterns, most knitters who are not total beginners don't need a pattern to do a square stockinette pillow or, for pete's sake, a coaster. The items that do need patterns are not things most people knit and for good reason - who needs to spend hours on lampshade covers, vase cozys, or shoe bags? Chair cushions, sure - except these had big buttons on them - so NOT comfortable. Last but not least, each and every pattern calls for the author's own brand of yarn. I'm not thinking that this book is going to sell much of it for her.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The art of pretending to be artsy, July 16, 2007

By	Autumn M. Reinhardt (Richmond, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Last week I checked out Suss Cousins' "Home Knits". Now here is a book that would I not only not buy but one which I would not have bothered to lug home from the library if I had looked at it first.

Wow.

Now, I don't like to call people names but I think these patterns must are very pretentious indeed. Anyone who can get away with publishing a book full of patterns such as a vase cozy (yes, for those of you who have vases shivering on the mantlepiece, here is your answer) or alpaca lampshades deserves to be called pretentious. However, I think the snob prize goes to the "knitted wall art" pattern. This one had me almost peeing myself. This pattern is all about knitting some huge squares with ugly circles of differing colors in them and then hanging them from your ceiling via wire, thus creating what can only be described as a kindergarten project masquerading as mass produced art from Target.

Now, don't get me wrong here. I am all for elevating knitting to it's proper place but I think the hipsters out there are going a bit overboard. I am sure (if you're a knitter) that you have noticed this trend whereby we all try to pretend that knitting today has absolutely nothing to do with what our mothers, grandmothers or great grandmothers did. This is not only ridiculous but self-defeating. In depriving ourselves of our knitterly heritage, we are really resigning the current popularity of knitting to a fad's death. I love to see crazy fiber art as much as the next gal but I'm drawing the line at a vase cozy, which is neither art nor useful.

However, I am a conciliating kind of person. I don't like to leave things as they are and so, in the spirit of knitterly sister and brotherhood, I offer you, kind readers, my newest pattern...


Ahna's Postmodern Existential Hip Young Table Leg Cozy

Materials: Some rather expensive, preferably organic and completely unwashable yarn and a pair of size 3 US circular needles.

Pattern:

Cast on twelve stitches and join without twisting the yarn.

Knit several rounds until it looks just simple, just Ethan Allen enough, and then throw in a harshly clashing stripe of some kind of hideous color.

Change back to Color A and continue knitting until you start to feel a midlife crisis coming on and then knit a hot pink skull into your table leg cozy to show how young and punk (but still girly) you are.

Change back to Color A and continue knitting until cozy is fourteen inches from cast on edge.

Cast Off.

www.thashizknit.blogspot.com

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yummy knit projects, December 20, 2006

By	armchairinterviews.com (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

Subtitled: Luxurious Handknits for Every Room of the House

This book is the latest offering from Suss Cousins, author of two previous knitting books (Hollywood Knits and Hollywood Knits-Style). Best known for her yarn collection and designs for Hollywood movies (her latest project can be seen on Tim Allen in Santa Clause 3), in Home Knits Cousins designs 30 projects to bring her trademark style to your home.

When Cousins moved to a new home, she was inspired to create the designs in Home Knits. The designs combine the clean Swedish designs Cousins grew up with, and mix old with new. Since she wanted to use a subdued color palette, the designs in Home Knits have an emphasis on texture. In some projects, unusual materials are employed: curtain tiebacks are made using cotton twill tape, and coasters are constructed out of jute twine; however, the rest of the patterns are made using Cousins' line of yarn. Any of these designs can be made using other yarn, and a helpful yarn substitution guide is included at the back of the book.

Home Knits has patterns for knitters of all skill levels for everything from pillows and napkin rings to bedspreads and wall hangings. Beginners will be tempted by the luxurious colors and textures of the Big Pillow Cover or the softness of the Luxurious Bedcover. More experienced knitters will be itching to knit up one of Cousins' lampshades or her Ottoman Cozy. Experts will want to knit up the Kimono Robe in their favorite color or be inspired to create their own piece of wall art.

Suss Cousins' next book, Wedding Knits: Handmade Gifts for Every Member of the Wedding Party, will be published by Potter Crafts on January 2, 2007.

Armchair Interviews says: Ready, set, knit.