ROMANTIC STYLE: KNITS AND CROCHET TO WEAR ON DISPLAY [Paperback]

Rowan fans will recognize from the cover, that, yes, this book does contain some repeat projects from past issues of Rowan. Not to worry - there are plenty of new projects in here as well, plenty to make owning the book worthwhile, in my opinion. All the styles are soft and feminine with a vintage mood. The three chapters, "Out and About," "Home Comforts," and "Little Extras" include a variety of blouses, sweaters, wraps, and accessories as well as a few home decor items. The garments are sized up to a 38-40" bust measurement. Atkinson offers some lovely and unique items, such as a lacy hooded shrug with a beaded edging and jewelry crocheted in metallic yarn with beads crocheted in. Many of the items are beautifully accented with knit-in beads, ribbons, buttons, lace edgings, and crocheted flowers.

This book is probably not intended for first-time knitters or crocheters, but many of the projects are simple enough for beginners, while others will be stimulating and interesting for the more experienced. This book does not include basic knit or crochet instructions, but does include more specialized directions for crochet and a section of motifs and edgings to practice on (also from a previous issue of Rowan), as well as a few tips for using beads, assembling projects, and yarn substitution.

I'm just itching to get started on the Lacy Bed Socks and the luxurious, full-length Dressing Gown.....

Very pretty and very Rowan. I love their stuff. Well, sometimes they do play up the English eccentric thing a little too much, and their last mag was full of mostly unwearable stuff, but I digress. For shame, Rowan, and the publishers - why should I have to buy the book to find out that many of the patterns have been published before? There should be a warning. If you've bought rowan's magazines, then you have at least a quarter of these patterns. If you haven't, you're fine. That is, if you like impractical knitting. A lot of this is gorgeous but a little bit ridiculous. How many people are prepared to spend ages knitting gorgeous hanger covers with very fine yarn on skinny needles - when their work is going to be covered by clothes? Same with the bolster cover. Then there's a lovely dressing gown, which would be great for my home country but hopeless for centrally heated winters, as it's made in R's kid classic. ie wool and mohair. Would probably weigh a ton too.

Anyway, I have it, it's very pretty, and I like the section which gives a few crochet motifs, but that's about it.

In my case, I wanted the Butterfly dress pattern, and you can either buy this book or a copy of Rowan 37, and they cost about the same. True to Rowan style, the patterns are generally well written and made for a knitter who is buying the pattern(s) not looking for a knitting book with instructions. Although some patterns are appropriate for beginners, there aren't many first projects here, mostly because of the emphasis on "romantic" styles which translates to patterned stitches.

Some of the projects written here are obviously gorgeous, but highly impractical: namely the "dressing gown" made with size 8 needles and taking 18 balls of Rowan Kid Classic. However, there are some really nice patterns that are highly wearable, such as the Chevron pullover. Mostly, the book is true to giving you a good vocabulary of the kinds of garments which might be "Romantic" styles, and geared for the knitter who is looking to add some interest to their regular knitting repetoire. There are projects incorporating beads and also a good mini-primer on crocheted picot edging, something which you could add to any knitting project to given it a romantic feel.

It is a worthwhile book to have, like I said, if there is at least one or two projects you definitely want to make, as Rowan does not sell their patterns separately. Besides, as to the impractical - the title of book is subtitled: Knits and Crochet to Wear OR Display.