45 Fine & Fanciful Hats to Knit

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended if...
Review: -You love to work in the round in multiple colors
-if you are looking to practice your fairisle technique on small
projects
-are comfortable working entirely from a chart
-are happy to choose your own colors without any specific
recommendations

These hats are sized to fit a medium adult woman, made on a
circular size 7 or so needle with worsted weight yarn. Size
adjustments are recommended by changing the size of yarn and/or
needles or for extremely large, adding repeats. The techniques
required aren't overly difficult- two color work, simple increases and
decreases. If you like Anna Zilboorg's other works, for example
Simply Socks, do yourself a favor and buy this book!

Rating:
Summary: You'd better like fair isle knitting...
Review: I bought this book for its variety of hat shapes and was hoping to knit them in solid blocks of colour rather than in stranded fair isle. Zilboorg states that if you are going to knit these designs with one colour per row (rather than the two colours that are charted), you need to increase the number of rounds, however, she does not give the reader specific instructions or charts - not even a calculation - for how to do this.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous colors, fantastic shapes, something for everyone
Review: I love this hat book above all the others I own. The shapes are really special--everything from a simple beret, to a domed tam-o-shanter, a pentagonal tam and a wild and silly eared model that is inspired by those goofy polar fleece ski hats.

Anna Zilboorg loves the colors and patterns of Turkish knitting, where positive and negative shapes intermingle in an eye-teasing way. Her color sense is wonderful--she knows how to take the richest shades and create stunning results. Her use of bobbles to add texture can be employed for other types of knitting, so this book is instructive for anyone who designs their own sweaters, mittens, gloves or even afghans.

I never get tired of looking at this book, and the hats make some of the best gifts you can imagine. A must-have for hat knitters.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, and not too hard, even for me
Review: I used to knit a lot, but then I quit. Now I've just picked up knitting needles for the first time in 30 years. First I made a scarf (duh), then I made an afghan with a scallop pattern. Then I bought this book and made a couple of hats. If I can do it, so can you. They're fun, fanciful, and not too hard for an average knitter.

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun, Cheerful Inspiration
Review: If you like knitting in the round or making small portable projects, this is an excellent book. I'm a beginning knitter - I have only been knitting 6 months and am completely self-taught - and I've made several hats from this book, adapting head bands from one, body patterns from another, and shapes from a third, in my own colors. While there may be nine basic shapes, the permutations are much greater than the 45 in the title.

The charts are clear and helpful (I gather there are minor problems with some, but I haven't had any trouble deciphering them). Zilboorg gives clear directions for various types of beginnings and finishings. As a neophyte, I found them easy to follow.

Each hat took a couple evenings and was quite enjoyable to do. The shapes and colors are uplifting and lots of fun to knit and to wear. I've been recommmending this book to people who have admired my knitting. And wearing one of these hats is a great way to brighten your day and keep you head warm at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Good instructions for me !
Review: It is a good hat knitting book for me . Because it provides clearly instructions , and the pattens are really beautiful .

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful hats, terrible charts
Review: The hat ideas are wonderful. Too bad there are so many errors in the charts. I contacted Lark books for a copy of their errata (a correction sheet for the errors in this book). What I received was a very poor photocopy of the corrected charts. The corrected charts were so small, and the photocopy was so many generations from the original, that I could absolutely not read it. I counted twenty charts from the book that have corrections! I am an experienced knitter, but I have a hard time getting into a new knitting project, knowing that the charts are wrong. I contacted Lark books repeatedly to get a cleaner, more legible copy of the errata. So far, I have received nothing. I'm very disappointed. Further, the gauge she suggests is too small. More specific instructions with regards to yarns and needle sizes would have been very helpful.

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE This Book!
Review: This is one of my very favorite knitting books! The colors and designs are gorgeous, the format is pleasing, and I just love to look at the pictures for color inspiration. I am a somewhat experienced knitter, I love knitting in the round (no seams to sew after the project is finished!) and I love to make colorful hats, which I sell at crafts fairs, so for me it's a perfect book. All the designs use worsted weight yarn and #7 or 8 needles, so the hats knit up fast.

I agree however that it's not ideal for knitting beginners, although with hands-on help from a more experienced knitter it should be possible. I have come across some minor errors - another reason it's more appropriate for non-beginners.
But otherwise I highly recommend it to anyone looking for fun, colorful, fast knitting projects. I make them for my friends, who love them. As Anna says in her introduction, you're doing the world a favor when you make these hats, because they make people smile!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Hats, little instruction
Review: Well, this isn't a standard hat book. And not every hat will work for everyone (I found the Toque too small, the onion too big, but gauges vary.) The best hat in the book is the pentagonal hat, which seems to look good on everyone. The textural additions to the colorwork are really something. You can develop your own hats from these ideas, and use some of the texture ideas on things like mittens, too. I use the toque pattern,modified, with boucle yarn to make a Dr Zhivago-style hat, for example.