Book Review - Fresh Fashion Knits

I was given this book free by Knitcircus magazine to review.  They only publish reviews of books that are liked by the reviewers so won't be publishing this review.  I decided to publish the review on my own.

Fresh Fashion Knits

Designs by Sarah Hatton

Edited by Kate Buller

2010 Rowan Yarns, 120 pages

I was really excited to be able to review this book and couldn’t wait for it to arrive.  I had visions of knitting madly from this book and filling my closet with fun, modern, knitwear.  When the book finally arrived I eagerly dug in and unfortunately found much of my enthusiasm almost instantly quelled.  Most of the models in the photos looked like they weren’t having any fun.  For me, and most other knitters I know, knitting is a fun activity and I feel that the models really should have reflected that.  For the most part, they look bored, that is a really big turn off to me.

As for the patterns, the cover of the book states “More than 20 Must-Have Designs from Rowan’s Studio Collection.”  It’s true, there are more than 20 patterns, there are exactly 21.  As for the ‘Must-Have’, that is a matter of opinion.  I found seven, maybe eight that I can see myself knitting.  If I were looking at this book on a store shelf I probably would put it back in favor of a different book because the patterns in here that I do like aren’t all that different from patterns I’ve seen elsewhere.

The bust size range is from 32-46”, however only 13 of the patterns go up to 46”, the rest stop at 42” and one even stops at 40”.  The patterns are well written, knitters with intermediate skills should have no problems with any of them and advanced beginners should be able to handle most of them.  Some sewing is required for side seams and setting in sleeves.  The book also references the Rowan website, www.knitrowan.com which has additional free patterns as well as tips and techniques for knitters.

I am not in love with this book, but it is definitely not the worst book I’ve seen either.  I also love Rowan yarns so I will be checking out their other books in the future, even though this one wasn’t an instant hit with me.