The Yarn Girls’ Guide To Simple Knits
Julie Carles and Jordana Jacobs
In A Nutshell: Simple knitting patterns in chunky wool that may suit a beginner looking for super fast results.
I really enjoyed the “Yarn Girls’ Guide to Beyond The Basics” so I was motivated to hunt out their earlier work. Unfortunately this didn’t impress me quite so much.
This book is firmly aimed at beginners with 30 patterns in simple shapes covering pullovers for both men and women, hats, scarves, ponchos and throws. There are also basic instructions for how to knit, though I felt there were some important omissions. For example the Yarn Girls only give one method of casting on and do not explain how to join a shoulder with the three needle bind off.
The projects are designed to be quick and easy with chunky wool knitted on big needles. This may give fast results but I don’t think many of the designs would be very flattering for an average sized woman. In the book the items are displayed on a dummy, rather than a real person.
The Yarn Girls suggest you could start a project on Saturday and wear it to work on Monday morning. I think I’d rather forgo such instant gratification to make something in a thinner yarn that actually suited me. The chunky approach does work for some accessories such as the scarves. Though I feel the pattern included with a basic garter stitch is something a child could invent.
I do appreciate their technique of using two or three yarns together to create interesting textured colour schemes. This is something I will definitely do in the future, but perhaps with 4 ply wool.
