Knit Your Own Dog: The Second Litter: 25 More Pedigree Pooches by Sally Muir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Yeah! It's time for a craft book review!

From the authors of the beloved and best-selling Knit Your Own Dog and Knit Your Own Cat comes 25 more cute dogs to knit! The list of included dog breeds are:

1) Chihuahua 2) Bichon Frise 3) Shih Tzu, 4) Wire-haired Dachshund 5) Chinese Crested Dog 6) Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 7) Hungarian Puli 8) Shar Pei 9) Lurcher, (10) Greyhound 11) Border Terrier 12) Cairn Terrier 13) Staffordshire Bull Terrier 14) Bedlington Terrier, 15) Yorkshire Terrier, 16) Airedale Terrier 17) Weimaraner 18) Pointer 19) English Springer Spaniel, 20) Golden Retriever 21) Irish Wolfhound 22) Beagle, (23) Bernese Mountain Dog, 24) Boxer 25) Doberman Pinscher

Now, I know what you are thinking - anyone who knows me, knows I don't make stuffed animals! I just have NO talent for it, but it doesn't mean I don't admire people's creativity and talent and doesn't mean I can't love the book all the same!

I mean seriously, how can you not love something like this?

My favorite patterns in the book are the Shih Tzu (a dear high school friend of mine had one of those) and the terriors. The one I liked the least? the golden retriever, which is one of my favorite dog breeds - it just didn't really look like a GR to me.

Again, not having made anything out of this book, take this with a grain of salt, but looking through the instructions, some of them seem a bit unclear to me, and sewing up all the little tiny pieces scares the crap out of me.

I received a review copy through netgalley.

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DIY Mason Jars

DIY Mason Jars: Thirty-Five Creative Crafts and Projects for the Classic Container by Melissa Averinos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was terribly excited to see my library had an e-copy of this book that just came out a month ago - not bad for small town USA!

The geek in me loves Part One: Mason Miscellany, which includes a history of the humble mason jar and explains the difference between a canning jar and a mason jar.

The projects use mostly common household objects and the projects are presented with very straightfoward directions. There's various categories and each category starts out with a basic project - like a base for making your own salad dressing using a mason jar as your holder.

Projects include:
vintage ceiling light
Reed diffuser
Sprouting jars
Homespun soap dispenser
pincushion
cloud jars

The best part about this book is Melissa's witty charm which is evident throughout the book.

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Lace One-Skein Wonders: 101 Projects Celebrating the Possibilities of Lace by Judith Durant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First of all - I am a BIG fan of lace, and when I'm not knitting ribbing or garter stitch, I'm probably knitting lace. And being an avid yard saler who ends up with nothing but odd skeins in my stash, you know I'm all about the one skein projects! So yes, I freely admit, this book was published just for ME! (oh, you mean I'm not the only one?)

The sections are:

hats and caps
mittens, gloves and cuffs
socks (of course!)
knits for kids
it's a wrap - scarves, shawls, and the like
lacey accessories
items for the home
And of course, a variety of weights of yarn in each section and different construction methods.

Now, some people, when they think of lace, think of gossamer, see through, open, airy, and hard... most of the projects aren't that at all, but simply modern designs that happen to have a lot of holes in them, you know, holes you put in your project on purpose. Designs are charted, and though some have a large number of rows / rounds in them, alot of projects are easily memorizable. There's some matching sets in the book, too, which I always like.

There are some incredibly cute baby knits in here - the baby accessories are cute, but what really stands out are the adorable sweaters and cardigans for babies that makes me wish I had a baby to knit for right now. Hana and Haru are my favorites.

And I don't knit baby things! ever! (OK: I do crochet baby blankets)

There's even a cute American Girl Doll set.

I received a review copy from netgalley

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Knit a Kitten

Knit a Kitten, Purl a Puppy: Picture Knit Projects for Pet Loving Families by Peggy Gaffney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a review copy of this book last fall, and it's been sitting on the side of my bed since then. I hadn't written a review, not because I didn't like the book, but because I DID like the book - I had intentions of making up a project from the book, and sharing that along with the review. Well, life gets in the way, and you procrastinate, and I finally accepted the fact that that is just not going to happen, so I better get my act in gear and write up the review!

This is the second book Peggy Gaffney has in her series of animal related patterns. The book is very straightforward - a bunch of animal charts, that you can use for sweaters, bags, skirts, vests, and hats. The items are all straightforward, so that the cute animal charts will shine.

The positive:
* it's dogs! it's cats! it's knitting! and it's intarsia!
* there's a great range of dogs, from from Golden Retrievers, to Siberian Husky puppies, to Bulldogs and German Shepherds - there's also a selection of bonus charts you can mix and match with any of the patterns in the book.
* there's a section on intarsia hints (including how to eliminate holes) and suggestions for making it easier
* there's a section on spinning dog hair

There's a few negatives I see with this book:
* some of the finished samples didn't look very well executed - I suspect a heavy blocking would have fixed this, but because of the nature of intarsia, it's very difficult to keep your gauge steady and consistent & neat looking. Some of the pictures are distorted and this distracts from how cute the dogs are!
* there's not a lot of cats - it's 75% dogs and 25% cats. I expected more kitties!
* There's a brief mention of how you can substitute any chart in any design - just center it. Well, that's great, but I''m not much of a math person & my head began to swim when I tried to figure it out. I'm sure it's easy, but I could've used a hint to get me started.
* the book is just a classic paperback - knitting books with large charts like this one, really need to be published in a spiral bound format so the book will lay flat

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book review: The Olympknits by Laura Long

The Olympknits by Laura Long
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I seem to be reviewing an awful lot of toy books lately so I won't say my usual disclaimer on toy books, you know the drill by now.

I picked up this book at the library because I couldn't resist. I actually remember seeing this book last year during the Olympics but didn't have time to grab it then, so I grabbed it now with a stack of other books I probably won't have time to even look at, let alone read and review... sigh.

There's several other similar books out there along the same theme (just search amazon). This one is unique because the doll is knitted but the outfits are sewn, making this book really a sewing book, not a knitting book, despite the title.

All in all, the book is cute enough, but there's nothing terribly unique about any of the outfits or how they are presented or sewn.



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book review: Lovely Knits for Little Girls

Lovely Knits for Little Girls by Vibe Sondergaard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a great resource for anyone who wants to make something for the little girls in their life, and many of the designs are easily adaptable to bigger girls as well. There's a great range of designs, from lace, cables and texture, from basic beginner stuff to more complex techniques.

Most of the book is focused on sweaters and cardigans, but there are several cute scarves/shawls as well.

The designs are very modern and different, which could be construed as a good thing, but for me is actually a negative - I buy books and knit things that will last for years, can be handed down when something is outgrown, etc., not something that will look dated when trends change in a year - at least, when I'm knitting for someone else (I've been known to wear a granny square sweater in public, so I'm not exactly fashion forward).

I had an e-book copy of this book, but other reviews did comment on the quality of the book which is important to note.


I received a review copy of this book for free from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Knitting Green by Ann Budd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are a ton of cute projects in this book, well written, charts as needed. Some cables, some lace, some basic, some more complex. The yarns used are all "green" yarns, like Eco Wool (yarn is neither dyed nor chemically processed) or Schulana Sojabama (bamboo & soya, a fiber from soybeans, that is similar to silk in feel).

There's smaller projects, like Sustainable Bamboo Scarf & Soap Nut Vessels (a little bag to throw your soap nuts into). There's wearables, like Organic Sprout tank, which uses Classic Elite Sprout yarn (organic cotton), or the classically styled All (North) American Hoodie, using St Denis Nordique wool yarn (a yarn grown, harvested, processed, & distributed all in North America).

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Around the Corner Crochet Borders: 150 Colorful, Creative Edging Designs with Charts & Instructions for Turning the Corner Perfectly Every Time by Edie Eckman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Let me start off by saying I am an Edit Eckman fan, and this book delivers as usual.

This is not a pattern book, it's a crochet resource book for edgings. There are a ton of border ideas here, and it's very easy to customize the borders still more. They are all charted, which is always a plus, and include directions for making edgings on straight items - like the edging on a cardigan - or going around corners, like on an afghan. I love the fact that there are both lacey & textured borders.

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book review: Sanna

Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice by Roxanna Matthews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Sanna!

Sanna has all of my favorite things - knitting, magic, witches, young adult, fantasy, & in a vaguely historical setting. Author Roxie is a knitter, and you can tell this in the book, from how Sanna fixes injuries by "knitting" the bones (love the pun), to knitting magical self-heating socks & mittens to keep a friend warm. Sanna & her classmates are a bunch of girls, just out to have a good time, who are just happening to attend a magical school.

There's a bit of a mystery, there's a bit of romance, but all in all it's just a good fast read.

I only have one negative about the book, which isn't really a negative at all. I felt a couple of parts - especially the ending - were written a little abrumptly for my tastes, but I think it's more written for young adults, which of course, this book is. As an adult reader, I would love liked to have seen those parts a little more fleshed out, but I completely understand why Roxie wrote those parts the way she did.

I was thrilled to pieces to find out that there is another book in the series, too!

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Crochet It. Love it. Wear It.

Crochet It. Love It. Wear It! (Leisure Arts #5058): The Ultimate Collection for Every Occasion by Drew Emborsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First of all, let me just say I love Drew, & I have enjoyed watching his "rise to fame" in the crochet world.

This is a small, LA book, featuring 16 projects. Some are a little weird for my tastes... like the open, lacey skirt Vashti, or the poofy ruffled cardigan... but there's the two gorgeous short sleeved sweaters, Saugatuck Summer & Antebellum, which would be so easy to change this up or down, make more casual or dressy. I also adore the Pencil Skirt, thoough I'm not sure I'd ever make or wear it.

I love the fact that, as LA usually does, the patterns use yarns easily found at Big Box stores & are, for the most part, actually affordable. Sure, I love my alpacas & silks, but I can afford that stuff once or twice every five years, usually one ball for a shawl.

Conclusions: add this to your crochet library!



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