The Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting

I received this book as a gift from my mother and I totally loved it, so many cute ideas and helpful step by step directions. I love the book so much that I bought it for my best friend! I would totally recommend this youngish corcheters who are looking for ways to spruce up a timeless hobby!

To be totally honest, I've never really even looked at the stitch tutorials other reviewers complained about. I bought the book a few years ago [as an intermediate crocheter] because I liked some of the patterns. If you're past learning how, it's a pretty good book. The patterns are well thought out and fairly well written. If you're still learning and/or interested in learning new and interesting stitches, you might want to check out something like Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker

I've bought so many "how to" books that it's become a bit of a joke in my family. I received this book as a gift and it is fabulous. It's packed with funny tidbits and comics about knitting (Did you know Russell Crowe is a knitter??) as well as patterns/directions on knitting different pieces. What stood out the most about this book, however, is the VERY dumbed-down approach to knitting. It uses real words for real people who've never knit before at all. Each step has a detailed no-jargon description and several photographs to get you through it. It's easy to read and very well illustrated and will have you knitting and in stitches (no pun intended) the first day. I recommend this 100% to anyone wanting to try a new hobby.

I'm fond of this book - the cotton summer hat is particularly great if you're looking for something different and gorgeous. One thing that keeps it from being a 5-star book for me, though, is that the author doesn't quite clarify what needle size system she's using. Thankfully, you can generally intuit the right size based on the recommended yarn. When she discusses needles, she indicates that there are different systems out there (metric, US, UK), she tells us that the UK system isn't in much use nowadays, and that most of the world (US excepted) uses the metric sizing system - which to me implies that, given this is an English book, she'd provide metric sizes - but she never actually says what we should be using. So when she says, e.g. #5 needles, is she talking US #5, or 5.0 mm? Other than this, I'd highly recommend it. :)

This book is fun and easy to read. I'm so glad I brought it! They have some cool designs you can make(like a cell phone or ipod holder, make-up bag, leg warmers, scaf,a dog sweater,a hat......).