Sweaters Books

Don't go looking for much in the way of instructions here. However, you will find lots of inspiration to make some Cindy Lauper-like creations (or maybe you'll be expressing your own inner rock-star-image!) by cutting up wool sweaters washed in the hot cycle so that the felted fabric can more easily be cut, sewn and embellished.

There is a potential here for some wonderful projects that will absolutely scream "YOU!" I love the fact that the models are not... well... models. They are average folk and that adds to the charm of the book.

Even though Second-Time Cool: The Art of Chopping Up a Sweater is a very thin book, there are lots of ideas that can be generated if you are the kind of person who can be inspired by visual cues to imagine your own creation.

Idea-book for shrinking a wool sweater into a more felted material and then altering it, or just using the material to make altogether different items such as handbags, hats, mittens, and shoes. The book was translated from the Swedish, where they need much warmer clothing than I do here in California, and there's not much technically on sewing, but you can get that elsewhere. This book's strengths are its very fun ideas, and the encouragement it gives to personalize your style with things you've made yourself.

I checked this book out from the library and was very disappointed when I pulled it off the hold shelf. This book is fairly thin, and has very little in the way of directions for you to create.

While it did have some great photos, and interesting ideas, it catered to the more extreme life style. I did appreciate the book having normal people as its models, instead of the traditional ultra skinny model.

I give this book just an OK rating, and recommend that users check out Sew Subversive instead.

This book has lots of creative ideas that you can expand on.
Good for beginners.
It shows you the basics of how to knit, crochet, embroider, felt, and more.
I personally loved it.
Its very good for a resourceful person who loves to recycle old items.

I was very disappointed in this book. It tries to be cool (like it says in the title) but honestly I expected a certain level of sophistication and directions for projects. It lacks both although the book does show you how to knit and crochet, how to make pom poms and how to make fringe (all of which I already know how to do) and gives you a little history lesson all at the same time.

If this was still the 80's this book would have been perfect. If you like Cyndi Lauper (and that was the first concert I ever went to) or maybe Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan, you might like this book for inspiration. As for me, I am returning the book.

I recommend both "Heartfelt" and "Felt it! Stitch it! Fabulous!" They get 5 stars from me!

I bought this book because I fell in love with a pattern (Drifting) featured in a Knit Picks yarn catalog. This experience will make me leery of doing that again.
First, what's wonderful:
1. Fiona Ellis is truly an *inspired* designer. She's taken the traditional Fair Isle approach and opened it up using it on sleeves, pockets, hemlines and yokes.
2. The author's use of color is amazing -- wonderful and brilliant combinations that I might never have considered.
3. The charts are also in brilliant color, so you can go back and forth between chart and photograph to get a sense of how it will work up.
4. The layout, photography, and paper of this book are luscious.
5. A nice guide in the back to the yarns used for the projects reveals a variety of yarns used from mohair to wool and cotton to Hempwol.
6. The mostly sweater designs offer a variety of styles.
7. Fiona shares insight into her design process inspired by Aristotle's four elements and she adds interesting little tidbits.
What is disappointing:
1. I'm guessing most the disappointments I have are from the editors not serving this designer well. But the one design aspect that is frustrating for me is that these sweaters are constructed by knitting back and forth and not in the round leaving, in some cases, many dozens of ends to weave in when finishing up.
2. The "things you need to know" and "techniques" section are so abbreviated that the editors might as well have left them out. This is my biggest disappointment. I imagine that Fiona is a wealth of information on Fair Isle knitting and has dozens of little tips to offer the reader. While I realize this is not a technique book, I think a book on Fair Isle would offer more than two brief paragraphs on stranding.
3. For me, the overall content doesn't match the cover price although I realize the glossy paper and frequent photos drive up the production costs.
Like other reviewers, I'll probably keep this book for the designs charts even though the only pattern I'm likely to knit is the one that infatuated me in the catalog.

Not inspiring at all. For example, patterns are a mix of fair-isle and cable, in coarse wool to they are 'pixelated'. Look at the inside pages to see the designs. Definitely not for advanced knitters.

Perhaps this book isn't for everyone, but as a fairly new knitter, i find it to be a delight. I've spent many hours trying to find the most basic information on how to carry the yarns while knitting stranded color work items and finally i have it in my hot little hands. The book has a lovely organization and flow with little tidbits on the elements and pieces of folklore that will inspire the knitter. The photography is gorgeous and really allows the pattern combinations to shine through. Another winner by Fiona Ellis.

Much of Fiona Ellis' design philosophy is contained in this statement from her introduction: "Even though many of the techniques we use in knitting have been around for practically forever, there are always new ways of using them to achieve fashionable and contemporary-looking garments." In Inspired Fair Isle Knits: 20 creative designs inspired by the elements, Ellis explores fair isle knitting, combining traditional with modern to create the unique garments showcased in this collection.

Like her first collection Inspired Cable Knits, Ellis draws inspiration from nature. Each of the four natural elements - earth, air, fire and water - influence her choices in color palette, design elements and fair isle pattern. While Ellis has provided 20 stimulating and challenging patterns, her hope is that her designs will inspire creativity and new ways of thinking in her readers, and to facilitate this she includes design notes and reflections.

Each element is the focus of one section of Inspired Fair Isle Knits and is distinguished by its own color palette, yarn properties and design elements. For example, the water section is worked in blues, greens and purples with shiny or smooth yarns that "recall water's reflective properties" and wavy edges brings to mind the movement of water or snowflakes.

Ellis designs for a wide range of sizes with finished chest measurements ranging from 32" - 56", with the average falling between 38" - 50". Inspired Fair Isle Knits includes two child's patterns, as well as designs for two wraps, a pillow cover and a felted bag. Many of the patterns here are geared to advanced or experienced knitters with a few suitable for those starting out in colorwork. Those wishing to explore color theory further should consult the reading list included at the end of the volume.

Inspired Fair Isle Knits focuses on color and Ellis has pushed the boundaries with some of her design choices, thus knitters' personal preferences are more likely to affect their opinions of this volume.

Armchair Interviews says: Knitters may not like every design, but Ellis' strong writing and clear instructions have produced an instructive volume that showcases her growth as a designer.

I love this book. I confess that I bought it based upon an earlier review stating that it didn't contain traditional steek patterns. Since I hate steeks, I thought "ok,hmmm, one step in my direction!".

The author has a delightful color eye and I found multiple things in the book charming and needleworthy. This is a book filled with cheerful patterns and nice design touches. Although I had not seen it before buying, I'm glad I own it.

Loved this book! Have to recommend it for knitters who want to make the leap from ho-hum to exciting!
It was wonderful to finally have a knitting designer who would give it to us straight! - In order to switch yarns on knitting patterns, you have to be willing to do some exploratory prep work, and CW explains what to do, how to have the patience to do it, and serves it all up with a sparkling wit! Extremely informative,it's an empowering book wisely advising that the effort put in will produce success in spades. Works for me!

I am glad Ms. Wise followed the dream of so many knitters: to have one's own patterns in a book. For that I applaud her. As for the book itself, it is nice for the beginning designer, or a knitter who has never designed at all. The designs themselves are very ho-hum. It's hard to compete with the likes of such genius as Meg Swansen, Alice Starmore, Kim Hargreaves... Nothing in this book is very stylish or classic. The book serves simply as a proponent of swatching and a compilation of examples of how a sweater looks knit in two different colorways/types of yarns.

This is not as bad a book as some reviewers have made it out to be. Reading it, I got the sense that this author was NOT someone who gets all the yarn she wants from doing work for the yarn companies, but instead has to actually BUY her yarn, like most of us.

The styles were basic, but nice, and were shown as completed garments in both yarn choices. Many pattern books show other colorways and yarns, but only as pattern swatches. It is a much cheaper book than "Simply Beautiful Sweaters" which was totally about $$$$$ yarn.

It would have been nice to see more closeups of the yarns that were used, so it would be a little easier to substitute what you already have. I also thought her yarns, even her nicer ones, did not look all that different in photos from some of the rock-bottom discount yarns available--the cover photo really suffered in this regard. Perhaps the next printing will have some of these issues addressed. It still is a pretty good book.

What a disappointment! This is a book based on the empty promise that the author is going to show some new way to solve the age old knitter's dilemma of yarn substitutions and how to make them. There is nothing new in this book; she solves yarn substitutions the way we all do and have been doing for a million years; swatch, swatch, swatch. This information is available from magazines, books, classes and other knitters!

She does show examples of sweaters knitted in two different weights of yarn, and for the novice knitter I suppose this could be interesting, and possibly informative. However, for any knitter who has made even one successful yarn substitution, I feel this book is an expensive retelling of an old tale.

I would strongly suggest that anyone thinking about purchasing this book first seek out a copy to look through.

For years I've been trying to alter knitting patterns to accommodate different types, sizes of yarn. The only way I knew how to do this was by hours of experimental "swatch" knitting, comparing stitches, measuring, etc.

So, when I saw the book "Knit it Your Way: Change the Yarn to Suit Your Style" advertised, I became very excited - at last, I thought, charts, explanations, a Method that would eliminate all that "swatching."

When the book arrived I could hardly wait to start reading. I quickly realized the only "Method" that was mentioned was - you guessed it - "swatching." After a few pages talking about her experience with hours and hours of knitting swatches, the author then regales us with many photos of herself in self-knit clothing. It is not something that I would even pass along to a beginning knitter.

The title of this book completely misrepresents its contents.

I must differ with the previous review. The styles are classic and nicely done. I like all of the designs, except for the design for a gansey with elongated ribbing at the bottom. Everything else is wearable, and sized for _real_ women. Most designs will fit at least a 1x.
There is a nice shawl pattern and an everyday cardigan as well as the beautiful top pictured here. Yarns used range from worsted to bulky, although the shawl is laceweight. There is a beautiful sleeveless top, with very pretty lace on the bottom.
This book is a great purchase for anyone that wants classic designs, especially for real sized women.

I actually was thinking of buying this book, based on one sweater shown in one of my knitting catalogs. However the other reviewers held me back from buying it. At the same time, I wondered if they were being just too fussy.

No, they were not. They were right on the button.

I have just returned from two days at the Stitches West Convention where I saw this book. I looked through the entire book. There were only two sweaters I would have made in the whole book (that's why it gets 2 stars). The rest were not my taste at all.

Another reviewer complained about the book having too many designs for fat people in the book. A lot of the models wearing the sweaters were on the plump side but so am I (in the olden days, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, it was called a matronly figure). I still would not wear the sweaters they were modeling.

Just because I am plump and older does not mean I want to look dowdy or out of date. However I also do not want to look silly dressing in something that really only looks good on young women or those who have had extensive comestic surgery so they look like a young woman. In the dinosaur days, it was called "mutton dressed as lamb."

So pretty much everything in this book was unappealing to me. I could not even think of ways to alter the patterns to make then more appealing.

After having seen it, I am definitely NOT buying it.

Got this one at Amazon's latest clearance for a fraction of cover price, and that mitigates for me in favor of ownership. Only a few patterns in here that I might make, but I agree that it's nice to see a pattern book that swings more towards sizes more common for grownup women. "Fat sizes"? I'd say the most common in the book are 36-40 inches, although yes, there's more here in the way of "big girl" 52" bust sizes than "human coathanger" 28".

Some interesting uses of variagated yarns, if you have some of those to use up. Otherwise unremarkable, but the patterns are simple and clearly diagramed so as to be a joy for those interested in simple templates to incorporate some element or accomodate a different gauge yarn. It's a tough market for knitting books these days - so many amazing free patterns out there, that you really have to be "well above average". By that standard, Ms. Noble's book is fun, but no "must have".

I had to return this book immediately.

There was nothing I would want to make or wear, most of the sweaters were for fat sizes and the styling was ordinary. I guess classic means ordinary in this context.

The lace panel at the bottom of a "Hawaiian" sleeveless blue variagated top was chaotic.

The picture in the illustration for this book is the only acceptably stylish sweater in the book, but not good enough for me to keep the book.

It says right in the product details that it's for reading level ages 4-8. And it's very good for that age group - as you can see if you click on the excerpt, the pictures are sharp and clear and the text is easy to follow. Buy it and give it to a future knitter!

This is a super series for ages 3 to 6. It describes how things are made. The whole series is written simply and accompanied by great photographs.

I was not made clear that this was a choldrens book when I purchased it. I was looking for a refrence book

Knitters - save your money. This is not for you. It is a 24-page book meant for very young children to learn how wool is processed. A good children's book. No information of value for a knitter.

They just made large patterns. Some nice ones, but not necessarily flatterng or slimming. Some were downright ugly and old-ladyish. Check the library!

The sweaters in the book are easy to knit. The directions are clear and I plan to knit over half the patterns in the book. For me, that's a high return on the purchase of a pattern book. I knit in order to have sweaters that fit me, look good and are in good colors for me, so I like the fact that these patterns are simple and basic - I don't need to be challanged by a sweater pattern. If you're looking for trendy sweaters that will be completely out of style next winter this book is not what you're looking for.

I found the patterns in this book to be very easy to make. I loved the selection of classic styles. While other reviewers found the styles to be a bit simple, these will never go out of style. When you hand-knit something, you want to be able to wear it for a long time and these classic patterns are perfect for that reason.

The instructions and diagrams were very clear and easy to follow. The patterns however, were not very attractive. To my eye, they look cumbersome and not very flattering.

What makes this book an invaluable "keeper" for me is the drawings showing knitting operations and an approach to knitting that may be unknown to Western knitters. When I was paid to finish knitting a sweater for a Japanese lady, the pictures in this book saved my life! For example, the ribbing is often done last, knitting down from an invisible cast-on. My customer had already bound off the cuff of the first sleeve -- very flexibly and using a yarn needle! I was able to match her careful work on the second sleeve ribbing by following the pictures in this book. Also, as there are some Japanese characters in the book, it would be helpful for any non-Japanese readers trying to decipher other Japanese knitting material. Aside from the above, the styles are fairly classic and clearly explained in small to average sizes with diagrams and plenty of (English) words.

It's and Ok book, but I would not suggest it. The patterns are strange and not easy to understand. I did not really like it. Sorry, but that's the truth.

I am really disappointed with this book. Except from a couple designs that I like (see pictures in front and cover pages) all the other designs are really outdated!! Looking inside the book I realized the problem. Although the book was published in 2001 the copyrights for the designs and photos date back to 1990!

Almost all the designs have dropped shoulders and are worn with shoulder pads. There is an aran suit (blouse and skirt) that makes a twenty-year-old model look really old and fat. All tapestry sweaters have really big flowers and birds in the fronts (I was immediately reminded of poor Bridget Jones). Most of the aran sweaters and cardigans are too boxy and bulky and one of them, a bobble and cable sweater...well, I haven't seen a sweater with so many bobbles. A couple of jackets have really unappealing large(!!) collars and there is a forties-style twinset...with nothing forties or nice about it. So knitters beware!

This book has a good variety of beautiful patterns for the entire family. I have made many sweaters from this book and each one been very easy and clear to follow. Each pattern has a colour photo to help you choose which ones to knit. I highly recommend this book!

This is one of the best machine knitting books I've ever seen. While I don't like every single pattern (that's unlikely even with the best of books), it has more attractive patterns than not. It includes discussion of design and embellishments, too, so even when these patterns are out of style - let's face it, it happens - the book won't be useless. Unlike most machine knitting books and pattern leaflets, most of these patterns are not tired, boxy (read: unflattering to most body shapes) grandma sweaters.

A previous review complains that the book was written for Brother machines, but I hardly see the point of a criticism like that - machine knitters chart and measure all the time anyway. It's not a hindrance whatsoever. The instructions are clear, so readers can adapt them to any machine (or hand knitting).

The garments are gorgeous. However, the book is written primarily for a machine that is no longer available, made by Brother. Other machines can be substituted if the correct gauge, but all measurements are in metric which can be a challenge in the US. Also, since the book is written in the UK, and I have never seen the yarns described widely available in the US I think you would have to be very advanced to do all the substitutions, and if you were that advanced you probably wouldn't need this book.

Have small amounts of leftover yarn in various colors? I made the scrap yarn vest in this book and I love it! I am planning to make another one with more scrap yarn to give as a gift. It uses basic stitches in an interesting way to create nice color contrasts. Beginners can do this project, and advanced crocheters will also enjoy it.

The other patterns in this book are okay - nothing really strikes my fancy, but they don't look difficult to make.

I purchased this book thinking the patterns were recent. These patterns could be considered vintage or early 80's retro. It's great if that's what you're looking for. I was disappointed.