Nicky Epstein's Knitting for Your Home: Afghans, Pillows, and Accents

I have found in the few years of knitting that I keep looking for certain author's to come out with new books. Nicky is one of them. I will not be happy until I have every book of hers and that goes with Debbie Bliss, also.

If you like the Victorian style, I think you'll love many of the designs in this book. I've never seen knitting patterns like this before, and find this book extraordinary. There's an afghan that takes it's inspiration from Victorian needlepoint (a.k.a., Berlinwork), with a black background and jewel tone fruits; a striking Christmas afghan with a dark background and trumpeting angels; a cable afghan with raised fruits; a diamond lace afghan with insertions of ribbon; a knitted photo frame; a cute "gentleman's sampler" that looks like it's a quilt made of squares from old sweaters; and knitted lampshade covers that are very feminine and Victorian/Edwardian. There's also an amazing afghan that's inspired from an old tapestry. The piece de resistance is an afghan that looks like it's copied from an 18th or early 19th century embroidery sampler. Then there are items that would fit into any home: A classy cable afghan & pillow; a glorious counterpane afghan and pillow that's very feminine; a diamond afghan; some pretty pillows; and an afghan with what looks like appliqued knitted leaves on it.I also really appreciate the few doily patterns that are included.There are wackier things, too, which I like less: Knitted animal pillows; three-dimensional fruits for a fruit bowl; a not-very-attracrtive teddy bear; a fur pillow; an afghan featuring a golfer and a pillow that looks like a giant golf ball; and some "celestial" and almost hippie looking designs.This book's problem doesn't come so much from it's designs, in my opinion, as from the difficulty of the projects. A few might be suitable for a beginner (some of the pillows and maybe the lampshades); others are rated "intermediate," but it seems that most are pretty complicated.Even so, this book is inspiring, if nothing else! I highly recommend it.

This book isn't as bad as it is made out to be. The designs are mainly good for accents, not for decorating your entire home with and I think that the animal pillows would be adorable in a child's bedroom. All in all, a good book if you have a room that needs just a little bit of zaniness. As a twenty year old knitter, I am more open to wilder themes. If you want some lovely afghans or some crazy additions to your home, then this is the book for you.

If you like Nicky Epstein's work, you will probably like this book, although it doesn't plow as much new ground as Epstein's "Embellishments". For technical knitting enthusiasts, the book has patterns for some rather unusual knitted items: lampshades, comical three-dimensional animal pillows, and decorative felted apples (replacing traditional wax fruit). There are also some very challenging intarsia afghan patterns: a knitted version of an embroidered "wedding proposal" sampler, and a knitted medieval tapestry with interwoven animal, bird, and plant figures. Other interesting items include an afghan made up of highly textured (three-dimensional) counterpane squares, a colorful Fair Isle afghan using Zodiac symbols (not the more usual pictorial figures), and a Christmas afghan with graceful trumpeting angels. In fact, there are a lot of pretty afghan and pillow projects in this book, utilizing cables, geometric design, intarsia, and multicolored or textured yarns, and ranging in difficulty from easy to expert. There are even some attractive knitted lace doily and placemat patterns. Like any book of knitting patterns, this one will be worth the price if even one of the designs is a "gotta make" pattern for you.