Knitting

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Giveaway: Dress-to-Impress Knitted Scarves

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dress to impress knitted scarves giveawayThis week’s giveaway is for the girly girls, the ladies who love feminine fashion and a bit of a challenge or an interesting technique in their knitting projects.

Dress-to-Impress Knitted Scarves by Pam Powers offers 24 knit scarves, cowls, ascots, kerchiefs and other fun shapes, all with a creative touch. There are often multiple yarns, colors, stitch patterns and techniques in the same project, and she loves to pattern block a project (where one section in the center is worked in one style/yarn and the ends are worked in a different way).

The projects often have a layered look because of this, which gives you lots of options for how to wear them. These projects are unique and not like anything you’d be able to buy anywhere, but they’re also not for beginners. Of course if you love a design you’ll be more inspired to learn the techniques necessary to make it your own (and some of the special skills required are described in the book, too).

If you’d like to win a copy of this fun book, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Monday, January 19. If you want, tell me what sort of style you like in neckwear the most: a simple rectangular scarf, a cowl, a small shawl wrapped around your neck? I love them all on different days, but I’ve been partial to a super long, warm scarf lately because it has been so cold!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, and good luck!

Comments

  1. I am a bit of a scarf slut – long scarves, short scarves, thin ones, fat ones, cowls and anything, which is why I would love to win this fabulous looking book to expand my collection o(and maybe e a few for other people if they’re very nice…)

  11. It all depends on the weather and that changes alot here in Canada but I love the short fancy ones the best

  12. My preference is for little neck warmers similar to the cover scarf. I have a super short torso and broad shoulders… I feel like adding the bulk of long, wrapped scarves makes me look dumpy.

  13. I love every type of scarf for different day different weather different occasion, as long as it’s pretty and keep me warm from the chilling weather.

  14. I love knitting and wearing cowls the most. They tend to provide maximum warmth with a shorter knit time. 😀

  17. I have been loom knitting scarves to earn a little extra money since I have only Social Security, but I would love to learn how to needle knit.

Have you read?

Book Review: The Knitting Book

There are two schools of thought when it comes to instructional books about knitting. Either focus in one particular technique or kind of knitting (stranded knitting, say, or brioche) or try to cover a little bit of everything in a reference book that knitters will use throughout their careers. 

The Knitting Book by Frederica Patmore and Dr. Vikki Haffenden aims to be the second kind. The subtitle is: a step-by-step guide to creating imaginative projects for the home and to wear. I’m not sure it does that, exactly, but it does include a quick look at a lot of different techniques and stitch patterns you might use in your projects. 

A “guide to creating imaginative projects” sounds to me like it’s about design, but this book is not. There’s 1/3 of a page about altering patterns that only talks about how to add length to a sleeve and adjust where the increases go.

There’s nothing about measuring your body (the section on choosing a size in a pattern only suggests measuring a garment you already own), general garment construction, ease or stitch pattern multiples. The section on gauge (which is the last third of the page with choosing a garment size and altering patterns, discussed above) just says to knit a swatch, block and measure it to compare to a pattern, with no discussion on how you might use your swatch to design your own project or alter a pattern to meet your gauge. 

If you ignore the subtitle, what you will find is a lot of information about different kinds of knitting and various techniques you might want to try on your projects. There are 20 cast ons and 15 bind off options, for instance, all discussed before you learn how to knit or purl. (Another quibble I have with this book is the order in which things are presented, but that’s relatively minor.)

You’ll find quick hits on increases and decreases, twists and cables, lace, colorwork, textured effects like fisherman’s rib and brioche, loops, mosaic knitting, double knitting, decorative stitches, shadow knitting, bias knitting, mitered squares, entrelac and more. There are tips for selvedge stitches, knitting with beads, adding buttonholes, picking up stitches and more. 

A few patterns at the back give knitters a taste of some of the techniques included, but they’re not rated by skill level and the first one is a bias knit gradient scarf worked in six different colors of mohair, which isn’t a thing I’d wish on any beginner. 

And I guess that’s maybe what my issue with the book is. I don’t know if it’s meant for beginners and it doesn’t seem to, either. I feel like this book would be overwhelming to new knitters and doesn’t really give you a place to start or all the information you might need to do projects well.

The variety of techniques included is fun, and there are also stitch patterns in the back you can use on your own projects, but again it doesn’t really provide any guidance for how to design your own projects so I don’t know how helpful all of that is. 

I want to like books like this because having one reference that helps you with a lot of different things is great, I’m just not sure this is the one. If you can find it at your library or local book store and flip through it before buying, I think that would be a great idea to see if it’s a book that would be helpful for you. 

And if you have this book and love it please let me know! I’m sure it’s good for someone I’m just not sure who. 

About the book: 336 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by DK. Suggested retail price $40.