Showing posts with label Knitting Pattern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knitting Pattern. Show all posts

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Wild Thing

Knitted Wild Animals: 15 Adorable, Easy-To-Knit Toys
by Sarah Keen



Words can't do this book justice, but I'm going to try anyway.  I confess I haven't made anything from the book, but my daughter has already selected the rhino for my next project.  What I love about these patterns is that the animals look like real stuffed (is that an oxymoron?) animals, not those oddly shaped creatures that look like you were on drugs when you made them.  The pictures in the book are clear, close-up and cute.  The patterns read as easy-to-understand.  There even is information about the real animals.  Best of all, it really doesn't matter if you have the correct weight yarn or knit to the correct gauge -- the only difference at the end of the day will be the size of the animal you create!  Sounds just like the ideal project for the knitter who wants to move on from making rectangles of various sizes (shawls, scarfs, blankets).

I told a friend of mine that I was going to buy this book.  She asked me to order a copy for her.  As she put it, "If I start now, by the time I have grandchildren [her oldest is 20 with no spouse in sight], I may have one animal done."


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

There Are Cats in This Blog!

I couldn’t imagine any better book to start my blog.  This book combines two of my great passions – books and knitting.  There Are Cats in This Book is a wonderful, funny, lift-the-flap (don’t worry – it can easily be repaired) book that any child would enjoy.  It truly captures cats’ personalities.  And for the adults who knit, you can knit the cats from the book!  That’s right, there are Patterns  to knit your own Moonpie, Tiny and Andre.  I confess I haven’t knitted my own yet, but the instructions seem clear and not that hard.  If you’re wondering what DK means in the instructions, I’ve looked it up.  DK stands for Double Knitting Yarn.  It is supposedly slightly finer than worsted weight.  If you end up using regular worsted weight, I think the worst thing that would happen is that you would end up with slightly larger cats.