YarnPlay at Home: Handknits for Colorful Living (Paperback)

by Lisa Shobhana Mason (Author)
Key Phrases: rep rows, morning glory blue, est patt, Lion Brand Lion Cotton, Lewis Gray, Gee's Bend (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Decorate in Style with Colorful, Cozy Handknits

From inviting afghans and throws to a playful cozy for a French press and a mini sweater for a wine bottle, YarnPlay at Home gives you the perfect knitted accent piece for every room in your home. Dress up your bathroom with a super-soft bathmat or jazz up your dining table by slipping silverware into flirty little napkin skirts. Inside YarnPlay you'll find:

• a guide to "living with color" that shows you how to choose colors that complement the pieces you already have and create the right mood
• a wide variety of projects, both big and small, from kitschy cozies to full-size blankets and throws
• stash-busters for using up all those odds and ends of yarn
• overflowing reference sections with a basic guide to yarn, needles and knitting notions, a glossary of knitting terms, an abbreviations key, a needle size conversion chart and a list of inspirational home décor magazines and Web sites

Dress up your home! Start knitting today.

About the Author
Lisa Shobhana Mason is the author of YarnPlay (ISBN-13: 978-1-58180-841-4). Lisa began knitting obsessively in 1998, and soon began designing her own patterns and teaching knitting at yarn stores in the Austin area. Two of her patterns are featured in Not Another Teen Knitting Book by Vickie Howell, the host of HGTV’s Knitty Gritty, and her Big Bad Baby Blanket pattern is featured in Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘N Bitch. Lisa also sells her patterns on her blog at http://wild_deer.typepad.com/stitches/. She is also a professional astrologer who has written online horoscope columns for Style.com, Vogue UK, Vogue Australia, and Vogue Espana.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (December 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600610056
• ISBN-13: 978-1600610059
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #540,261 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Designs for your Home!, January 25, 2008

By	Purls Just Wanna Have Fun! (City by the Bay) - See all my reviews

Yarnplay at home is a magnificent book! I love Shobhanas use of color as always. She has a great eye for blending together modern and appealing color palets that would go well with any home design. The patterns in this book seem pretty strait forward and fun to knit. In my opinion they are good for knitters at all levels beginner to advanced. There is also a good blend of patterns--stockinette, lace, plane knit, color play etc.

I LOVE this book and its one of the best at home designs knitting book I have come across.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artful Knitting, January 20, 2008

By	T. Stewart (Maryland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Artful knitting requires more input from the knitter than technical know-how. Yarnplay at Home excels at providing the knitter with the canvas and a teacher with a great eye for detail and color. You could follow the lead as written and end up with beautiful home items or you can ask more of yourself as a knitter and create a work of art for for your nest.

Yarnplay at Home is broken into three sections - Cloths + Cozies, Bed, Bath + Baby and House + Home. Each offers distinct inspiration for useful home items as well a whimsy or two thrown in for those not afraid to treat their guests to their first view of a wine bottle sweater or a French press cozy. In a world riddled with knitters one upping each other in the technique arena, it's refreshing to see a book that serves as a jumping off point for the knitter's imagination. Advancing one's technique is always a welcome challenge, but let's not forget the beauty of a meditative moment in our day. Yarnplay at Home is a moment of Zen.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Much New in this Limited Collection of Designs but May Be Good Choice for Beginners, January 8, 2008

By	R. Fox-Dewhurst (Pacific NW) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I suspect that knitters will either treasure this book or find it lacking-it's a book that will either have you flying to grab your knitting needles or nursing your "buyer's remorse." Upfront, I should let you know, that overall I was not impressed by this book. Although examining the projects in "YarnPlay at Home" did lead me to comment on a few of the best items with an occasional "wow"....I found that the few really intriguing projects were notable more for a fun, bold and adventuresome use of color and/or texture, rather than for overall design of the project. I've decided that book is not a particularly helpful addition to my own "knitting library".
.... So how can a knitter decide if this book should be added to their own collection? It's always hard to judge a book of knitting projects if you don't have the time or opportunity to get off the internet and search out the title in person. I hope that the observations that follow will help other knitters predict whether "YarnPlay at Home" will have them saying "I love it" or will put them on the side of "leave it". And if, like me, you are a knitter who finds that almost any new knitting book seems to magically compel you move your cursor to the Amazon "Buy in 1-Click" button- try to take a deep breath -and pause before clicking- taking a moment to read the observations that follow:

>(1)One way to approach the book is by evaluating it from a kind of "cost per project" perspective:

Personally, I was disappointed by the relatively small number of the project designs contained in the book. There are 24 projects - including two dishcloths! The projects are grouped into three sections: "clothes and cozies" (yep, this section includes those two dishcloths, plus a few other items), "bed, bath + baby" (a couple of pillow covers and a few blankets, throws or mats) and "house and home" (a few designs for throws and covers are presented here too, as well a meditation mat, a rug, and several "functional decorations" including a placemat and a runner). So, this book not only offers a relatively modest number of project designs....there is a significant amount of repetition of the specific type of projects that are included in the book's contents.

>(2) Perhaps you are a knitter for whom the depth of designs and variety of approaches to project design is more important than the number of projects included in a book. If you are this type of knitter, will you find a lot of "gems" in this book such as techniques to add to your repertoire or unusual approaches and fun twists to the typical knitted design?

I think, once again, most knitters will be disappointed by "YarnPlay at Home"- even if they are just looking for hidden gems. Many of the designs are relatively uninspiring-and there are few if any "creations" that aren't a variation on items that others have designed previously. In addition, the designs for a fairly large number of the items seem to follow some variation of the repetition of a relatively simple formula - mostly consisting of offset strips or blocks of yarns made from repeats of a set 3, 4, or 5 different colors chosen for the project.

On the other hand, the simplicity and repetitiveness of book's designs does mean that it may be especially inspiring to a beginning or new knitter. If this will be one of your first books of knitting projects, you may be motivated to knit up the designs. Also, if you are a beginner, it helps that several of the projects can be knit with a very simple combination of straight forward knit or purl stitches. It's also nice that many of the items can be knit in piece work. For example the "newbie" knitter may well be able to finish one of the large sized blankets or throws. Since many of the projects call for knitting a (relatively) small section at a time, then sewing the sections together to make the finished design-a beginner won't not be devastated by making a big mistake midway through the project. Unfortunately, however, for the beginning knitter, these same projects are often finished or embellished with some crochet work. The crochet work is not difficult, but without it many of the easier projects may lack a "finished" look. If you are a new knitter afraid to even think about "taking up the hook"- you may feel like one of these alluring projects is out now of reach. (It does help to find a brief explanation of simple crochet chain work is found in the book's appendix.)

[Two neat exceptions to the routine flavor of the designs found in this book are a French Press Cozy-knitted with straight then double pointed needles- and a funky napkin skirt/holder the author names a "Flirt". (These two items have higher difficulty ratings than most of the projects.)There is also a design called "chain maille" - which is a mohair curtain. The design is described as unique, but in my opinion the final product looks more bedraggled than "uncommon". Also the directions for this window curtain seem somewhat confusing, even after a couple of readings. That project is also definitely not a design for a beginner!]

>3)Should fans of the author's first "YarnPlay" book definitely buy this book?

My vote here is "no". As in her previous book, simply titled "YarnPlay", author Lisa Shobhana Mason urges the knitter to use the project designs in her book as a starting point for their own creativity- hence yarn-"play". As such, I'm sure that knitters who enjoyed the earlier "YarnPlay" publication will be somewhat more likely to enjoy this one. Unfortunately, however, readers who are familiar with the earlier "YarnPlay" title will discover that are few new suggestions to be found for personalizing a design in "YarnPlay at Home". (And, of course, knitters who weren't impressed with the first book are unlikely to care for this book- since the author's approach pretty much identical in both books.)

>4) Perhaps the book is worth buying if author's approach to knitting in synch with your own. After all, the "yarn play" encouraged by the author may be particularly appealing to knitters who are looking for inspiration for starting to work on their own designs. Should knitters looking to "play" buy this book? Is it likely that knitters who already find it satisfying to redesign projects will find the inspiration in this book so as to make their own beautiful creations by playing with color or design?

My opinion is "probably not". It seems to me that the appeal of the best of the designs in this book really depends on the author's own wonderful sense of design and color. Potentially, another concern is that many of the projects incorporate some of the more costly and unique yarns. (And if you are like me you've probably been frustrated in the past when a particular yarn in a delicious looking project design disappears after the season is over- and before you decided to knit the project).
I did note that the author almost always gives the option of substituting yarn. However, I suspect the "Bauhaus Geometric Throw", for example, wouldn't be quite as lovely after the substitution of "975 yds of any worsted weight mohair yarn for each color" for a skein of Lorna's Laces Heaven in the specific colors the author chose for her design.

On a positive note- some knitters who feel they would like to explore taking a basic pattern by changing the colors or design a bit- and have not learned to do this on their own or from playing with designs in the first "YarnPlay" book or similar books-may be inspired by this book. The author frequently reminds the reader to use her designs a starting point to achieve a design that reflects the knitter's own creativity and life style. It's always nice to find an author who encourages knitters to change aspects of the author's own design for a project to make the finished work more personally meaningful. Sometimes it's a big and worrisome step even for experienced knitters to simply explore using their own choices in color.

Another positive is that there are a number of projects in the book for which a knitter can reach into their "stash" (and maybe even deplete a bit of an often frighteningly large collection of yarns and leftovers waiting to be knit). It's always nice find projects that can take a bite out of the "stash".

So in summary... since I said that a knitter will either love or not care for this book, why did I award it 4 stars? I know that it seems like I'm straddling the fence with that rating, but I wanted to give other knitters a chance to weigh the pros and cons that have tried to describe. I really do think that there are some knitters that will find that they are glad they found this book. Now if you convinced that you are one of those knitters, go ahead and click that "buy it" button. If not- move on quickly, before temptation gets the best of you!