[.ca] Felted Knits (ISBN 1931499330)

save your money:
I own about 10 knitting books, and this one is the first one with which I am disappointed. Many of the patterns in here are quite intuitive; meaning, that one probably doesn't need a book to be able to figure out how to knit them. Books with felting patterns should highlight patterns that are difficult to create. Otherwise, what's the point of buying a book? The challenges of felting are in determining scale and ratio, and anticipating shrinkage when you felt the item. None of these patterns are particularly interesting or nice-looking. Given its 2003 press date, I would have liked to see more fashionable items like a bucket hat, a striped felted bag with closure, and more useful household items, like a fruit bowl. Instead, the patterns include a bowler hat, felted mittens, dowdy looking slippers and several simple square bags. Its saving grace is a nice-looking felted rug, but I could have probably figured that one out as well. Isn't it just a rectangle?

A good first book and reference:
When I got this book, I was looking for some in-depth information on felting, and the author covered a lot of questions that I had come up against when looking just at single patterns. There's a good variety of projects and yarns used, and the colour photos are quite lovely; it's very nice to find a book that doesn't just feature one brand of yarn. I agree with previous reviews that there's not a lot of 'new' patterns, but there's a good range of different things that are felt-tested. I don't agree that the patterns are easy to follow though - the sidebars that give the project requirements are not clearly laid out, and often two or three projects are mixed in together; as well, some of the more structured projects (slippers, tea cozy) seem to have unnecessarily complex instructions for what one would think would be a fairly simple item. Overall, I would recommend the book for its comprehensiveness, but I wouldn't put it at the top of the list...

One of my most used knitting books:
I love this book. The patterns are not only great to look at, but well written and easy to follow too. I made a couple pairs of the baby booties, and they were quite quick to make. And, felted up beautifully. Same with the pocketbook. Not that the instructions are as critical there, but still- well written and easy to follow, again. And the results were gorgeous. People compliment me on it all the time. I've been inspired to begin a hat- but it's too early to discuss the finished results. Still- I have faith it will be perfect. She tells you all about how to choose your yarn, what yarns felt well, gives suggestions for figuring out gauge and discusses washing machine vs. sink techniques. Lots of nice pics in the beginning to get a feel how much felting changes your fabric. I found that helpful, as I had no idea what novelty yarns worked in might look like. Given how gorgeous they are, and that I would have been afraid to even try, I feel as if it's almost a public service to include those.

Great Book:
I made some things out of this book and felt they were quite easy to follow.

Get It:
If you want to learn to felt or learn more about felting, this is the book to do it. I had already done a couple of projects but now will have more control over the felting process becasue of this book. Excellent.