Customer Reviews

Hip to Knit

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

LAME! The projects in this book are awful. The instructions stink, and I don't know any teenager who would want to make, let alone wear, the projects in this book. I would recommend Stitch n' Bitch if you're looking for hip, stylish and young knit designs.

Easy projects but not all boring. You know the new knitters curse: row after row after row of stockinette stitch. You can find it, but there are a variety of items, and stitches to try; all clearly explained via drawings and direction.

Swartz does a nice job choosing yarns that pique your interest and shows swatches of different yarns for the same project.

Particularly nice is the sock pattern. It is easy to do,and has clear directions for something that often make new knitters nervous.

The roll neck cardigan is very stylish, as is the ribbon-yarn funnel neck sweater. You get several sweater projects, including a boyfriend sweater, a couple pair of mittens, socks, scarves, hats, and a large "coat". The book is layed out in two sections with simpler projects first in each section.

Swartz will teach you circular knitting on circular needles, and double points. You'll learn cables, how to read a cable pattern, Kitchener stitch for seaming, and a variety of other techniques to make your knitting lovely.

I'd strongly recommend using it in conjunction with a "knitting bible" style publication (I like kathrine buss' Big Book of Knitting). Swartz occasionally assumes you know how to properly decrease for necklines etc. A reference would help out a lot.

The projects in the book are great, but unfortuantely, the measurements as well as some of the other instruction are either incorrect or just plain confusing. I have done two projects based off of the instructions given in the book, and both pieces came out either too large, or too small. I wouldn't recommend this book for beginners, or even those who are a little more experienced at knitting, unless you know enough about taking your own measurements and calculating the number of stitches you will actually need to work with in each project.

I just got this book a few days ago, and I love it. It has so many mouth-watering projects; I can't wait to try them all. Knitters will find gorgeous things to knit for themselves and great gift ideas for friends and family.

I do have to echo, however, what many others here have said -- this is not the book to buy if you are starting out from square one and don't know how to knit at all. You really need a more basic, how-to book. The author of "Hip to Knit" does include some basic information, but she puts in certain information while, curiously, leaving other useful tips out.

I, for example, am in the middle of knitting the "seed stitch scarf", the second project in the book. I started and unraveled the darned thing three times; it became a horrible, tangled mess each time, even though I *thought* I was following what seemed like a very simple pattern correctly. It wasn't until I looked in Sally Melville's "The Knitting Experience, Book 2" that I discovered I had to re-position the knitting yarn each time when knitting and purling in the same row. Now this step would be obvious to an experienced knitter, but if you've never done the seed stitch before, you wouldn't know that. It would have been nice if Ms. Swartz had included that little tidbit of information.

So, this is a great project book as long as you have a basic instruction book or a more experienced knitting friend backing you up.

This books offers a really nice collection of stylish patterns, easy to make, with colorful photos and simple instructions. I'm no expert knitter, and I'd never used circular needles before, but I thought the stocking cap I made from this book was a snap. I also followed the book's easy instructions to make the first mittens I'd ever made. They turned out great! I'm tackling one of the sweater patterns now -- and so far so good!

If you are trying to decide between this book and the Yarn Girl's book, I'd get this one. I am an "intermediate" middle aged knitter, and this is the book to help me knit things my much younger hipper brothers and sisters will love to wear. It all looks like things I've seen them wear. On the other hand it isn't over the top trendy either (no knitted bikinis here). My kids' teenage babysitters have leafed through this book and have all commented on how they would love to have various things from this book in their wardrobe.

I was suprised by the reviewers who said that they had trouble with the instructions in this book. I chose the "Fat Hat" pattern as my second knitting project EVER, and I didn't have trouble with the instructions.
I liked the layout of the book, and think that there is a nice range of projects. Also, there are great hints on other yarn combos and tricks to try with each pattern, so that you can truly make the project your own. In other words, if you like to be creative with your pattern, this book has good suggestions on avenues to try.

I've been knitting for a number of years and have navigated my way through a lot of patterns. I agree with another reviewer who said that the clarity of the patterns was sacrificed to "whimsical design". As well, methods recommended for patterns - increasing and finishing - wouldn't actually work for the patterns. I did manage to finish a project, but only because I understood how cabling works. If I'd never done it before, I never would have gotten through it. While the pattern claimed to "introduce two pattern stitches", it was definitely necessary to have done them before.

I bought this book because I liked the projects pictured in it. I've been knitting for a couple of years, but mostly I've made socks, and I was going to use this to branch into making hats and sweaters.

It seems to me that the patterns themselves took a distant second place to making the layout and design of the book "hip" looking. All the patterns are lumped together in paragraphs instead of stepped out into easily discerned rows. There seems to be plenty of room for pictures, white space, and whimsical design, but I bought the book for the patterns, and they're hard to read.

In order to make the instructions clear, I have had to take the paragraphs the patterns are lumped into and turn them into steps that make sense and actually have a beginning and an end. For a more advanced knitter, this might not be a problem, but when I'm doing something new to me I like the instructions to be clear and stepped out. (I write documentation for a living, so this may be a personal quibble.)

I also think that the designer makes assumptions that the knitter using the book can read between the lines and fix things or understand things that are not expressly stated in the pattern. In my case, at least, that led to having to rip back several hours worth of work because I did exactly what the pattern said without reading between the lines to something it should have said.

I still want to make the things in the book, and I'm going to keep trying and working with it, so I'll give it three stars. I don't hate it. I would just warn anyone who is a very beginning knitter not to approach this book without the help of an experienced knitter to make the unwritten instructions clear.

This book has simple patterns found in any other book and magazines.