CogKnition

Book Review: Felted Knits

March 17th, 2006 | View Comments

Cover of Felted Knits

Author: Beverly Galeskas
Publisher: Interweave Press
Rating: 4 Skeins
Buy Felted Knits on Amazon.com

I own this book and Knit One, Felt Too and prefer the projects in this one. Felted Knits contains a nice selection of felted bags, mittens, slippers, household items, and a vest, all of which are cute. The projects have simple, clean designs suitable for beginning knitters and are, for the most part, photographed nicely.

It’s clear that some care was taken with the photographs; they are arranged artistically and you get good looks at what the finished items are supposed to look like. In many cases, you can see the finished item photographed from multiple angles, although you may need to hunt around the book for them.

Some of the photographs have blurred backgrounds, which would be ok, except that there’s another sample of the finished project in the background placed at a different angle and now you can’t see it properly.

The vest is only photographed from the front, and it’s photographed on a hanger. It would have been nice to see how it looks on an actual person. Having a few photos of mittens and slippers on actual hands and feet wouldn’t have hurt either. In fact, there is only one photo of an actual person in the book–someone wearing the muff on p. 61.

The instructions for felting are quite good. They include the basic instructions, troubleshooting tips, and sections on blocking, drying, garment care, and designing your own projects.

The photographs accompanying the instructions are helpful. There is a clear photograph of a swatch before and after felting (with markers to illustrate the change in gauge), and good photographs of what different combinations of yarns look like after they’ve been felted, including mixing novelty yarns with wool. There is also a photograph illustrating how the size of a knitted piece can affect how it felts.

At the end of the book, there’s the obligatory techniques section, a short list of yarns that are good for felting, and also a section on needle felting, which looks to be a nice way of embellishing an already-felted item.

If you’re interested in felting, I’d recommend this book for your collection.

Buy Felted Knits on Amazon.com

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CogKnition posted this on March 17th, 2006 @ 11:49pm in Book Reviews | Permalink to "Felted Knits"

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