Jennie AtkinsonRomantic Style: Knits And Crochet to Wear or Display

Rowan fans will recognize from the cover, that, yes, this book does contain some repeat projects from past issues of Rowan. Not to worry - there are plenty of new projects in here as well, plenty to make owning the book worthwhile, in my opinion. All the styles are soft and feminine with a vintage mood. The three chapters, "Out and About," "Home Comforts," and "Little Extras" include a variety of blouses, sweaters, wraps, and accessories as well as a few home decor items. The garments are sized up to a 38-40" bust measurement. Atkinson offers some lovely and unique items, such as a lacy hooded shrug with a beaded edging and jewelry crocheted in metallic yarn with beads crocheted in. Many of the items are beautifully accented with knit-in beads, ribbons, buttons, lace edgings, and crocheted flowers.This book is probably not intended for first-time knitters or crocheters, but many of the projects are simple enough for beginners, while others will be stimulating and interesting for the more experienced. This book does not include basic knit or crochet instructions, but does include more specialized directions for crochet and a section of motifs and edgings to practice on (also from a previous issue of Rowan), as well as a few tips for using beads, assembling projects, and yarn substitution.I'm just itching to get started on the Lacy Bed Socks and the luxurious, full-length Dressing Gown.....

I bought this book for the dressing gown pattern. I will never make it, because it drags on the ground, and will be full of dog hair the minute I put it on. But, I can dream, can't I? The title almost scared me off, because I have bought knitting and crochet books that have had more crochet than knitting. This one seems to be the other way around, so I should warn crocheters. Knitters may love it, though. There are quite a few patterns of varying difficulty, and the yarns called for are mostly Rowan. The designer incorporates beads and into several of the patterns that would otherwise be very plain, making easy to knit desings look special. I would say, for the price, this is a very good book.

These are more than romantic patterns. These are based on vintage patterns! I've been looking for a few of these patterns and now I wish the preview would offer pictures of ALL the patterns because I would have purchased this book sooner.

Romantic knitted apparel and many accessories. Easy enough patterns that even beginning knitters will attempt.

Excellent!

I thought the pictures were beautiful in this book, but they didn't really show as much detail of the actual knitting as I would like. I don't think there is much in here that I'll actually knit, but I'd still recommend it for the inspiration.

Excelente everything!

Very pretty and very Rowan. I love their stuff. Well, sometimes they do play up the English eccentric thing a little too much, and their last mag was full of mostly unwearable stuff, but I digress. For shame, Rowan, and the publishers - why should I have to buy the book to find out that many of the patterns have been published before? There should be a warning. If you've bought rowan's magazines, then you have at least a quarter of these patterns. If you haven't, you're fine. That is, if you like impractical knitting. A lot of this is gorgeous but a little bit ridiculous. How many people are prepared to spend ages knitting gorgeous hanger covers with very fine yarn on skinny needles - when their work is going to be covered by clothes? Same with the bolster cover. Then there's a lovely dressing gown, which would be great for my home country but hopeless for centrally heated winters, as it's made in R's kid classic. ie wool and mohair. Would probably weigh a ton too.Anyway, I have it, it's very pretty, and I like the section which gives a few crochet motifs, but that's about it.

This book knitting patterns are just gorgeous and even though I haven't knitted anything yet due to several other projects that are desperate to get finished I am sure I will. The patterns are lovely and far from the usual boring jumper. It's surely not a book for beginners but I can do with a challenge for once.The only thing that really annoyed me was that this is exactly the same book as "Beads, Button and Lace" from Jennie Atkinson. Apart from the cover it is word for word and picture for picture identical. I do know because I purchased both books first. If you intend to buy this book, go for the version which is cheapest.A very worthy book! At least I think so!

It is lovely book with good photos but I found I already had many of the patterns in Rowan magazines and reproduced elsewhere.Also I do not crochet and there were quite a few patterns for this.Mostly designs were a bit 'twee' if you were very slim and slender they would be fine but not so flattering for the rest of us

Really nice book... lots of really interesting projects and tipos. Not sure when I will get to all of them, but nice reference book to have. Would buy again. 5 stars

I have already started on one garment the famous Butterfly Dress shown on the cover, and hope to complete many more in the future. Probably not a book for knitting and crochet beginners.

Very happy!