The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits

Rating:
Summary: Great Beginner Book
Review: I just started knitting and have already made one of the sweaters from this book. The directions are easy to follow and the stories are funny. I highly recommend this if you are looking to get started on something "big" after making your first scarf! I have a few friends that have knitted for a while and they all wanted copies of the patterns as they are hip and use fun yarn! Great Book!

Rating:
Summary: some great ideas
Review: I liked how simple all of the patterns were and that they were for a few of each type of garment - hat, tank top, sweater, scarf.....

Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Review: I love this book! I really liked the selection of tank tops. I live in a warm climate and most sweater patterns are designed for cold climates. I did find the yarns used rather expensive, but I have not had a problem substituting. The patterns are clearly written and easy to follow. I also really liked that the gauge was given not just for the typical 4" swatch, but also per inch. This made it easier to find substitution yarns. I liked the format, which broke the book into sweater types. The sweaters in each section are similar, but different enough to keep things interesting. It has greatly helped my confidence as a new knitter. I could complete the sweaters without frustration and a million questions. Keep up the good work Yarn Girls!

Rating:
Summary: My favorite knitting book!
Review: I love this book! If you're interested in fashion knitting this is the best book around. The instructions are clear, the projects are interesting and have real flair and the yarn available from their yarn shop is yummy! Yes, the yarn is expensive, but this book gives you directions so you can make high fashion sweaters and scarves that would cost hundreds of dollars in the stores. So it's a nice way to experiment with luxury if your budget doesn't allow buying designer pieces. I have ordered from the Yarn Girls 4 times since I bought the book and I have been immensely pleased with the projects I've made -- two scarves and two hats so far. This book got me knitting again after stopping 10 years ago - it's fun knitting. Simple designs but with real appeal.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite knitting book
Review: I love this book. And yes, that's after making the hoodie. I made it for my mom for Christmas, and mine turned out fine. Of course I did as one other reviewer suggested and substituted the yarn--Patons Classic Wool for the Manos del Uruguay--and that may have made a difference. The only real problem I had with the book is the sizing--not everyone has a 36-inch or smaller bust. Anyway, I've used this book with great results. There's certainly nothing wrong with the book to merit the profanity one reviewer used.

Rating:
Summary: For the Sweater-Phobes
Review: I picked up the Yarn Girls' Guide specifically because I really wanted to make a sweater but was a little intimidated by the process. After making my first sweater (the Craving to Knit cardigan in the book), I realize that the process isn't quite so scary. I'm now working on the hoodie (my book has the correct instructions so the errors referred to before must have been updated in later editions). Obviously everyone's opinions on patterns will differ depending on their personal style but I really enjoy the patterns in this book.

The book does have instructions on how to knit but I don't know that it's enough for a true beginner. I would recommend a book that has a lot more than just a couple of pages on knitting and purling. I did think the seaming instructions were pretty good. That was the part of the sweater making process that intimidated me most.

The patterns feature 3 variations of each of 10 different styles of project (including cardigans, v-necks, funnel necks, men's sweaters, hats, scarves, tank tops and afghans) for a total of 30 patterns. The projects are very simple. You won't find any cables or intarsia and the shaping for each project is minimal. For a first sweater, these are perfect, especially because line by line instructions are given for shaping. The styles are basic but still very modern looking, definitely things I would wear. I've made the Cardigan, Knitting Club Hat, Feeling Fuzzy Hat, Hole in One Scarf, and Chunky scarf, and have been pleased with all of them so far. Because they are so basic, you can use different yarns to achieve different looks but if you wanted, you could also easily add different textures or colors.

No pattern is done on less than a size 9 needle. Those have the benefit of knitting up quickly. Unfortunately, bulky sweaters can look bad on people that are small or large so you may want to take that into account. I can't imagine wearing a sweater knit on very large needles but there are plenty of options knit on 9-11 needles that I like.

The sizes in the book are probably along the lines of the "small, medium, and large" you'd find in many clothing stores at the mall, though there really are no plus sized options for any of the projects. However, they definitely would fit someone with over a size 33 bust. If you're petite, finding patterns that fit well without adjustment can be difficult but these should fit pretty well. If you are tall, you may have to lengthen some of the more cropped sweaters, like the cardigan and the v-neck. They really don't give instructions on how to do this other than a mention in the v-neck to description to add a few inches before the armhole shaping so this is why I'd recommend a different book to learn to knit.

Rating:
Summary: Foolproof first sweaters
Review: I picked up this book because it contained more than one pattern of clothes I would actually wear! Most of the knit books out there cater to the more conservative crowd, but this has a lot of tank tops and form-fitting sweaters. The patterns are straightforward and about as easy and dumbed-down as you can get. Most of the patterns are either made with bulky yarn or with 2 strands held together, so everything knits up fairly quickly- good for the attention impared.

The first part of the books deals with basic knitting instruction and how to read the patterns, and then it moves on to the patterns.

My only complaint (or warning) is the sizes. It gives you the option of S, M, L but it never tells you the measurements. If I walked into J Crew, I would grab the medium sized sweater (but who needs store-bought sweaters when you can make your own?). However, my first meium sweater from this book was a wee bit snug- I found after that the Large size patterns fit me best- I'm a size 8.

Overall, this book is indespensible for basic sweater patterns for both male and female. They also provide patterns for a few cute hats, scaves and ponchos. I'm fortunate enough to live in NYC where the Yarn Girl's store is, and they carry all the yarn that they use in their patterns- I've had trouble finding some of the yarns or even similar subsitutes at other yarn stores, especially ones that only carry natural fiber yarn. I'm sure you can find all of it at a good online yarn store.

Rating:
Summary: Cute patterns, but...
Review: I picked up this book while looking for a new knitting book. I'm pissed at myself that I didn't look closer at it, because the patterns are basically useless for me. The patterns are very cute, but the fact that they are knitted in bulky yarns is a big turnoff. I get the feeling that if any woman wore sweaters from this book made from bulky yarns that they would end up wearing a fat suit. Not good.

Rating:
Summary: Patterns look nice....If you're no bigger than a size 8!
Review: I really enjoyed the simple, straight-forward approach to these patterns, then I read a bit closer. Nearly all of the patterns do not account for a bust larger than 33"! It wouldn't be so bad if they provided instruction for how to grade the patterns up, but this book doesn't get into the nitty gritty of that, as this is a book for beginning knitters. It was so disappointing to see that the authors do not account for the "sizable" majority of the reading public when constructing the patterns here.

Rating:
Summary: sort of ugly sweaters
Review: I was pretty excited about this book when I got it, and I made two sweaters from it... but they both turned out kind of cropped and wide. I think it requires a little more adjusting and thinking than "simple knits" implies. I still have hope that their sweaters could be cute, with a little modification. Also, they only suggest really expensive yarn, so you might want to substitute.