Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits: I'm No Longer Scared of Sweaters
Written: Jan 09 '05 (Updated Jan 09 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: Fun, simple knit garments that are great for a first time garment project
Cons: Nothing major, just a few annoyances.
The Bottom Line: The Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits is a great book for someone who wants to knit sweaters but dreads the amount of time typically required to do them.
SHeineman's Full Review: Julie Carles and Jordana Jacobs - The Yarn Girls' ...
Before I picked up the Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits a few months back, I had knit for about a year and had created a bunch of things ranging from hats and scarfs to felted purses to flower shaped washcloths. However, I was intimidated about starting a sweater project. It wasn't the skill level that scared me. It was more of the thought of such a big project on such small needles. I knew it would take forever and I'd get bored. If you are a knitter that feels this way, read on, because this book was the answer for me. I had my first sweater on the needles within no time!
Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits was written by the owners of the NYC shop, the Yarn Co. (yarnco.com), Jordana Jacobs and Julie Carles. It's yet another book in several recent books geared toward a younger knitter, for a craft that is gaining in popularity very quickly. The book is pretty much what its title says: simple knits. In its patterns and pages, you don't find any complicated color or texture work. If you know how to knit and purl, its patterns are likely within your skill level.
But what if you can't knit or purl?
The book is designed for a beginning knitter. The first section of the book is a knitting tutorial, complete with pictures to teach you to knit, purl, increase, decrease, seam, and even do basic crochet. It's difficult for me to say whether or not this would be enough instruction for someone who has never picked up needles before. The diagrams look to be pretty clear. However, I must say that this section is relatively short. It dedicates 2 pages to the casting on while other "learn to knit" books dedicate a full chapter. If you need a refresher, this would probably work great for you but if you are a true beginner, I'd suggest a book more focused on teaching you to knit. I learned to knit from the book Stitch and B*tch by Debbie Stoller (my review), and Knitting for Dummies is an excellent book as well.
I will say that I think the finishing instructions are good and helped me a lot. Stitch and B*tch teaches you to sew seams but doesn't go into much detail of piecing together a sweater. My seaming greatly improved while sewing up my sweater.
Now for the good stuff: the patterns!
It's what most of us buy knitting books for! The patterns! The Yarn Girls' Guide contains 30 patterns for sweaters, hats, scarves, and afghans. The patterns are broken to sections, with 3 patterns for each section that share that style with different details. For example, in the section for cardigans, there is a pattern for a long coat-like collared cardigan, a shorter cardigan with buttons, and cardigan with a zipper front. It's an interesting way to show how the same skill can lead to different looks, and if you like details of one sweater, you can always add those details into a different pattern from your section.
You can find sections for v-necks, crewnecks, cardigans, funnelnecks, tanktops, hats, scarves, blankets, ponchos, and men's sweaters (there are 3 men's sweaters in the book but the hats would work fine for men too). While the book is geared toward a younger knitter, many of the patterns look like the type that would be flattering and well liked across many age groups or that would be easily adaptable to a preferred style because the shapes are so classic.
The projects are made with yarn ranging from heavy worsted to superbulky. The smallest needle you see is a size 9, and there is a scarf done on a size 35. For this reason, they knit up quickly. The sweaters are done in stockinette stitch with no textures or color work in the body of the sweater. The simple styles though would allow you to add your own color changes or textures if you wanted. Most are knit on straight needles, with only a hat being knit on circulars. I prefer using circulars for hats to avoid seaming so I've done both hats I've made from the book on circulars. Eh, I like doing sweaters and bigger projects on circular needles too even if I'm not knitting in the round! The scarves would be great beginner projects, especially the "Chunkiest of the Chunky" scarf, their twist on the garter stitch scarf you see in every beginning knitting book.
I've now made a few projects from the book, including the "Craving to Knit" cardigan, "The Knitting Club Hat", 2 of the "Hole in One" scarf, 2 of the "Chunkiest of the Chunky" scarf, and "Basic Hat." I'm pleased with how each as come out, in spite of some gauge problems (which I complain about below!). All worked up quickly, even the cardigan (it's not quite done yet though!), and look very good. The scarves were all gifts and went over very well with the recipients.
Eek, that yarn is expensive!
The sweaters in this book aren't made of craft store yarn, that's for sure. Many of them carry a yarn price tag of $100-$200 or even more in the case of the throws. This is quite a bit for most of us to invest in one knitting project, although a splurge for a great handknit sweater would be worth it. My own personal view on knitting a garment that you'll spend hours on is to buy the best you can afford. If that's from Michael's, so be it (just be warned that many of the inexpensive yarns don't hold up well to extensive wear), but a visit to your yarn shop will yield a huge selection of wools, blends, and natural fibers that work equally well in these projects and carry a lower price tag.
If you are new to knitting and aren't quite comfortable with substituting yarn, the Yarn Girls Guide includes a chapter on gauge and yarn selection. They include pictures with every pattern that indicates the size of the yarn you should use, if you aren't yet familiar with determining the type of yarn via the gauge numbers cited in the pattern.
As with any knitting book, likes and dislikes can be very personal. Here are a few of mine:
Things I like about the book
*The patterns are simple in pattern, texture, and color.
*The patterns are for things that I would wear. So many knitting books continue to have outdated or highly fussy patterns. These are updated but are in classic shapes. In other books, I may find one or two items I'd like to wear but I could see myself in just about any of these.
*The sizing. I'm petite, and most of the patterns in this book will fit me well. In some other books, I have to figure out how to size patterns down. If you are fuller figured, you may want to check out the sizing to make sure these will work for you if you aren't comfortable with sizing things to fit you yet.
*How it's written and photographed: each pattern has a little story and the photos are bright and clear. I really enjoyed looking through it.
*The detailed instructions on shaping: they give it step by step, something not many sweater patterns do. It's not a complicated thing but it's kind of nice to see it laid out for you if it's your first sweater.
Things I don't like (note: none of these are enough to make me not like or not recommend the book, just little annoyances)
*Some of the sweaters are made with such bulky yarn that it will overwhelm someone petite or make someone bigger look bigger. I'm petite and don't think I'd be able to wear a sweater made on size 19 needles without looking like a linebacker. It will overwhelm me.
*They list yarns but don't indicate what fibers they are, and when they double up a yarn, they don't list what the individual yarn gauge is, only the combined gauge. I've had to check online to see what a yarn is.
*For some reason, I've had difficulty getting gauge, even on the pattern where I used the same yarn as they did (The Knitting Club hat, made with Koigu). I had to increase needle size on my sweater from 9 to 10 1/2. It resulted in a slightly different looking fabric which I like but you may not. See why they say to always check gauge! I usually don't have to do much needle size adjusting since I don't knit particularly tight or loose but have on a couple of these.
*I love how colorful the book is and how clear the photos are but some of the photos don't show the full item. I noticed it in particular on one sweater where a seed stitch bottom wasn't photographed, and I wanted to see how it looked.
Errata
Like most books, this one has errata so check their website at yarnco.com before beginning a pattern. You can also get a sneak peak at some of the patterns in the book at this website as well as purchase yarns used in the book's patterns.
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