Book Review – Knitted Animal Friends

“Knitted Animal Friends: Over 40 knitting patterns for adorable animal dolls, their clothes and accessories” is the perfect book for knitters looking to create an adorable collection of knitted animal toys. Written by Louise Crowther, the author of “My Knitted Doll,” this book offers a wide range of patterns for creating charming and unique knitted animals.

With a total of 12 different animal patterns, each with their own unique personality and style, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from. The patterns include a basic body with a few color variations and tail additions, so you can mix and match clothes between the animals to create endless outfit possibilities.

In addition to the animal patterns, the book also includes patterns for clothes and accessories, so you can fully customize your animal creations. Whether you’re looking for a gift for friends and family or just want to make something for yourself, this book has something for everyone.

So, if you want to create your own adorable collection of knitted animal toys, add “Knitted Animal Friends: Over 40 knitting patterns for adorable animal dolls, their clothes and accessories” to your knitting library today!

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Beautiful people and beautiful sweaters combine in Lasse L. Matberg’s Viking Knits. The book includes more than 40 Scandinavian inspired knits for men, women and children featuring textured stitches and colorwork.

Matberg is known as The Viking and has worked as a chef, naval officer, fitness instructor and model, as well as being on a couple of reality TV shows. He comes from a long line of makers and his book was first published in Norwegian in 2021 and has since come out in an English version.

The book is divided into sections including everyday sweaters, knits for the great outdoors, stylish knitwear, Norse sweaters and accessories. Some of the patterns use the same designs in different versions for men, women and children. I counted seven projects rated for beginners, 19 for intermediate knitters and 17 for experienced knitters. The more difficult patterns tend to have allover colorwork or stitch patterning.

The pattern stitches and colorwork are shown in charts, with a little bit of text to tell you how to make the garment. Most of the book is sweaters, but there are also hats (sometimes coordinating with sweaters), scarves and a couple of sitting mats.

You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry. Some of my favorites are the more basic ones, such as the Power Sweater, a close-fitting (sized for men) ribbed sweater; the Heart Sweater, a raglan with allover lice stitch; and the Midsummer Sweater, with textured stripes and a henley neckline. I also like the Breeze designs (there are versions for men, women and children) that have colorwork diamonds on them.

Sizing on the garments varies, but there are six sizes for the men’s patterns (noted as small through XXL and then Lasse sized), six for women (XS to XL) and three for children (age 2-4, 6-8 and 10-12).

The yarns used in the book aren’t available in the United States but you can find suppliers here if you want to use the same yarns. Otherwise the book gives a lot of details about yarn content and gauge so you should be able to find good substitutes wherever you live.

If you have Norwegian or Scandinavian heritage or just like the look of cozy textured or colorful sweaters, this book is a lot of fun, and the eye candy is pretty great, too.

About the book: 192 pages, hardcover, 43 patterns. Published in English in 2023 by Search Press. Suggested retail price $29.95.

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