[.ca] Hollywood Knits: With 30 Original Suss Designs (ISBN 1584796057)

pretty pictures, lousy book:
i picked up this book because of the good photos of the projects. after i started reading it, i found that the sizing on every project is TINY. movie stars and teenage girls may be 36"-busts or smaller, but real women have curves and need larger sizes on sweaters. took the book back to borders and got a refund. thanks to other reviewers here for also pointing out the many errors in the instructions. nothing like spending 80 bucks on yarn only to find that the steps are flawed.

Good with the Bad:
I fell in love with the pictures in this book, as I love simple, bold designs. It's a great inspiration for me. That said, it can also be highly annoying to read and work with. The name-dropping is intrusive after the first page or so. Also, the sizes are INCREDIBLY small. Suss' "large" is listed in the X-Small category of standard women's sizes! Unless the reader is willing to do all the math to alter what are, essentially, good designs, I wouldn't recommend this book for beginners.

Dreadful Disapointment:
The projects are wonderful to look at, but unless you are a "hot" knitter who can adjust your patterns on the fly steer clear. If you must knit one of her patterns KNIT A GUAGE and then KNIT IT AGAIN. If you are looking for a wonderful intermediate pattern book try Weekend Knits or the Stich n' Bitch book, if you want a nice coffee table knitting book by all means spend go for it.

Beginner Perfect! Great Instructions and Beautiful Designs:
As a newbie knitter in my twenties, this is my favourite book. The projects are simple, the photos are gorgeous, and I can see returning to this book for years to come because I love the designs so much. The step-by-step instructions are great and I wish more books were written this way. (I can't stand knitting by antiquated abbreviations.) I did have a couple of problems. There are a lot of misprints in the book. If you buy the book, be sure to visit www.sussdesign.com to get the list of corrections before you begin any of the projects. I also wish she included instructions on how to crochet the pieces together, since this is a finishing technique used often throughout the book. Overall, a book I would readily recommend to other beginning knitters. Well worth the price.

A true waste of money:
I was extremely disappointed in this book! The patterns contained are so simplistic, you could train a reasonably intelligent monkey to knit them! Oh, it is glossy and colorful, to be sure but there really is nothing in it for the intermediate knitter and for sure, a complete waste of money for the advanced knitter. Who would want to knit a cell phone cover?? When I ordered the book, it sounded as though there were plenty of patterns in it, thirty, I think but most of them are a joke. I would recommend "Knitting Without Tears" for the beginner or for anybody who really does love to knit and enjoys trying something a little different. Leave this one on the shelf!