Knitted Icons

"Knitted Icons" is worth the price of purchase just for novelty value. Starting with a simple knitted doll (the pattern of which is provided), Meldrum provides instructions for dressing and decorating this doll to look like Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Lee, Abe Lincoln, Jackie O, Che Guevara, Jimi Hendrix, Albert Einstein, Cher, James Dean, Muhammed Ali, Madonna, Andy Warhol, Chairman Mao, the Beatles, Charlie Chaplin, Gandhi, the Queen, Bob Marley, Audrey Hepburn, Bob Dylan, Mr T, David Bowie and Elvis (she also provides pattens for knitting King Kong and Godzilla, although these are not from the basic doll pattern). The doll clothes are a combination of knitted and sewn items. Although unlikely to suit absolute beginners, I would say this book would be appropriate for advanced beginners to intermediate knitters. The items in this book can be knitted in a relatively small period of time and would make ideal presents for fans of pop-culture. The patterns in this book can also be easily modified to make other celebrity dolls (I have plans to make a "Kill Bill" Uma Thurman doll using the Bruce Lee yellow tracksuit, for example). The only reason why I didn't give this five stars was because the patterns for the (sewn) doll clothes are not printed at full size and need to be enlarged (something which I hate doing). Other than that, though, this is a good book which provides a welcome change from the Japanese-style knitted toy books that seem to be flooding the market at the moment.