Cons: Patterns' difficulties are not clearly labeled.
The Bottom Line: This book is excellent for any knitter; whether you're just beginning, or an expert. Great patterns, easy instructions, and helpful resources are within.
laurashrti's Full Review: Julie Carles and Jordana Jacobs - The Yarn Girls' ...
I picked up "The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits" by Julie Carles and Jordana Jacobs at my local library. The back cover displayed several knitted projects that I, as a somewhat experienced knitter, wanted to make.
I leafed through the book and discovered fantastic color pictures of real projects, and drawn instructions. The book has a well organized, easy to read table of contents, which points the reader in the direction of the how-to fundamentals of knitting, and several patterns which are divided into sections such as cardigans, tank tops, hats, throws, and so on. The table of contents also directs the reader to a resources page and an index.
The first 39 pages (or so) include great, detailed instructions on how to begin knitting. The book shows the beginning knitter how to start by making a slip knot, how to cast on, and then how to make the basic stitches; knit and pearl. These instructions are accompanied by very nicely drawn pictures that are very easy to understand. In my experience, it is hard to learn a craft like knitting from a book, but these pictures make it very easy. The section goes on to show the reader several techniques, such ribbing, increasing and decreasing stitches, binding off, fringe, sewing pieces together, simple crochet stitches used for edging, and many other things the various knitting projects may call for.
The next section talks about the importance of gauge. It shows the reader how to measure the gauge of a piece of knitting, and gives hints on how to keep your gauge correct. These hints are very helpful, especially for a beginner, but also for someone who habitually knits too tightly or too loosely.
Next is a knitting glossary. This glossary includes all the knitting terms used in the book with very accurate definitions.
After the final "words of wisdom" and things to know before you start knitting (which includes a really nice, helpful yarn weight guide), comes the multitude of patterns. The patterns are grouped by type, so it is easy to find what you want to make. Each pattern is accompanied by a very short story of someone who made the given pattern, and how much they enjoyed making it. The patterns' difficulties are not labeled, but the book is called "Simple Knits," and the patterns are all fairly easy, even for a beginner. Each pattern also has a short list including what type of yarn and how much yarn is required, needle size, gauge, etc. The patterns are very easy to read, and for some items there are several sizes. Patterns also have a picture of the finished product so the reader can see what their knitting will bring them. The patterns are unique and trendy, but not too funky, and they definitely won't go out of style any time soon.
Near the end of the book there is a resources section, which tells the reader where various yarns can be ordered. After the resources section is the index.
This book was very useful to me for many reasons. I made use of the yarn guide, which most books don't seem to have. Also, the knitting basics were helpful when I needed a reminder on how to do specific finishes, such as fringe and edging. Again, the pictures were extremely helpful, and many books' pictures are not so easy to learn from. The patterns also are easy to alter, so personalized projects are simple.
Any beginning knitter would benefit from this book, as well as anyone who is looking for fun, easy patterns to make. Knitting is a great hobby to take up, and this book proves this hobby to be as fun as any other!
The only thing I dislike about this book is that it does not list pattern difficulty, though they are all supposed to be easy.
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