Chic knits for young chicks by Sarah Paulin, published by Lark.

This book is very specifically aimed at teenage knitters. With a funky design, fonts and colours and are all bold and bright, and pictures of young girls knitting. So it is no surprise to learn that the author of this book, Sarah Paulin is a young teenage girl with a penchant for knitting and a desire to bring her designs to others. A teen knitting book written by a teen, this book has credibility and authenticity.

All the basics are there, from making a slip knot, casting on and the basic stitches to gauge, and binding off. Through the book are various tips like caring for your needles and how to organise a knitting group, along with good illustrations on how to make fringing, pom poms and i-cord.

I checked with my daughter and she agreed that most of the projects and patterns were pretty cool. So we are on the right track. My daughter and I both loved the ‘Biggy rib scarf’ with pocket, made with fun chunky multicoloured wool, the chunky ‘cuirass shrug’ which is made with wool slub and size 35 needles in a really simple shape, and the tube top/skirt in multicoloured stripes. There are heaps of other projects in here, many more scarves and shrugs along with a multitude of bags, cuffs and cosies.

Other projects I found interesting were the recycled yarn bag and water bottle cosy with cotton yarn. I also found it interesting that there is a section on gifts at the back, so teens can knit up a hat for their boyfriend or dad, a tea-cosy for grandma, a baby blanket for their new niece or cousin and a journal cover for their sister or best friend.

Only bad thing I can say is that all the patterns call for specific brand name yarns without explanation of what they are in order to be able to substitute - eg Rowan ribbon twist and Charles Ritratto, Noro Daria and Bernat Boa! Otherwise its a great book well worth the purchase - a perfect gift for the young knitter in your life.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 12:28 pm and is filed under knitting+crochet+yarn, reviews+literature+media. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.