Easy Knitted Accessories
Funky And Fashionable Projects For The Novice Knitter

By Jeanette Trotman

    Since Madonna picked up her needles knitting has become a fashionable pastime again. Here is a book that further helps to dispel the old image of a granny in her rocking chair knitting some unfashionable item and before long you can have a wardrobe-extending range of accessories; knit gloves, hats, shawls, ponchos, bags and more in fun, funky styles and jazz up your outfits while having fun.

    The term "easy" is a relative one, and if you have never picked up a pair of needles before then this is not the book for you. This is for somebody who can knit, but not well enough to tackle difficult patterns and wants pieces that will grow quickly and teach them some new skills. Like all Search Press books it is beautifully illustrated and well laid out - I particularly liked the pictorial index. Sensibly, the projects are graded in three levels and in the introduction these are laid out with page numbers and names of the items for easy reference. The chapter on "materials, tools and techniques"explains about yarns, needles, and other useful things and then goes on to show the stitches used. I am a total novice, and found that this part of the book rushed things somewhat, and either a beginners' primer or an experienced knitter was needed to help me out. Subsequent sections on the intricacies of intarsia, cable and the like explain these methods briefly, but then it is on to the patterns that are what this book is really all about (think of the front section as revision). What follows ought to appeal to younger (and young at heart) women, and the photographs show suitably youthful models. Use is made of beads and other novelty items, and the whole is very pleasing - a good incentive to anybody to take up the hobby. It is just the book for anybody who has just learned to knit and wants to make something useful and attractive.