Cowl Girls by Cathy Carron: Craft Book Review

Title: Cowl Girls: The Neck's Big Thing to Knit
Designer: Cathy Carron
Publisher: Sixth&Spring Books
Publication Date: Oct 2010
Number of Pages: 136
Series: Stand Alone
Reason for Discovery: I love Cathy Carron's hat patterns.

According to GoodReads:

Forget tired scarves and bulky turtlenecks-funky, chunky, hip and happening cowls are where it's at! Following up her hit book Hattitude, author and designer Cathy Carron weaves a fashion statement that puts in-the-know women head and shoulders above the rest. Among the more than 35 patterns provided here are a cozy neck wrap featuring a built-in iPod holder, a lacy drawstring hood, and a woven necklace sparkling with Swarovski crystals.

First Impressions: It is a Cathy Carron book! Yea! I love her hat patterns! I love cowls, because they keep my neck warm but do not take ten million years to knit. This will be the best book ever. Hmmm, these patterns are interesting. I am not sure who is supposed to wear these cowls. They are pretty, but they seem a bit large.

The Details: This book contains 41 cowl patterns. The majority of these patterns use bulky yarn. Because most of these patterns use bulky yarn, these are large cowls. These are statement pieces, not just cowls to keep your neck warm. I don't think I have ever seen a man wearing a cowl, so I am going to assume that these patterns are for women (the models are all women). In regards to range of difficulty, there are patterns to fit all levels from beginner to beyond. This book assumes that you know the basics. With that said, the patterns are short and fairly straight forward, so once you start knitting some of the patterns, you should be able to branch out to the more complicated patterns in the book. The yarn used in this book comes from your friendly, neighborhood yarn store, not your big box store.

Final Impressions: Cathy Carron patterns are always fun. This book is no different. There are definitely some fun patterns in this book; however, I think I am not the demographic to wear most of these cowls. There are a handful that I can see myself wearing (a 30-something year old), but for the most part, I think you need to be a teen or in your 20s to pull these cowls off. Because most of these cowls are made with bulky yarn, you could knit up a bunch of these and hand them out to the younger girls on your holiday present list, if you don't fit the "cowl girls" group.

I give this book 3 out of 5 balls of yarn.

LEGO Space by Peter Reid & Tim Goddard: Craft Book Review

Title: LEGO Space: Building the Future
Author: Peter Reid & Tim Goddard
Publisher: No Starch Press
Publication Date: November 2013
Number of Pages: 216
Series: Stand Alone
Reason for Discovery: ARC

This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

From GoodReads:

Come explore an incredible LEGO® universe in LEGO Space: Building the Future. Spaceships, orbital outposts, and new worlds come to life in this unique vision of the future, built completely from LEGO bricks.

A selection of step-by-step building instructions will have you constructing your own cosmic creations to play with at home. Marvel at interstellar battlecruisers, space pirates, charming robots, and other stunning builds from an amazing future!

I love LEGOs. I grew up building all sorts of fantastic creations when I was a child. When graduate school was stressing me out, I would buy a LEGO kit and marvel in building something. When I was writing my Master's thesis, I made a lot of LEGO buildings. When my husband saw my apartment for the first time when we were dating, he was very impressed with the huge bin of LEGOs that I had shoved under my desk. (Thank goodness!) When I saw that LEGO Space was available for review, I jumped at the chance. My husband and I both love LEGOs and my husband is an astronomer, so this book was a match made in heaven. My love for this book, unfortunately, dampened rather quickly. 

Let's discuss the details of this book. This book is written as a picture book with lots of LEGO scenes filling each page. The story is not good. I am not sure the age group that would like this story. Originally, I thought it was going for the 10-12 year old age group, but the vocabulary seems a bit old. I haven't been around pre-teens in a while, so maybe this is the correct age group. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this story. There are a lot of SF references in it, but they are not being used altogether correctly. 

The LEGO scenes, on the other hand, are really neat. There are some very cool spaceships in this book that I would want to build. There are also some small sets that would be neat to build as well. This book only has 10 designs that have step-by-step instructions. Unfortunately, the designs, for the most part, are for very small, simple structures. I don't want to build a satellite. I want to build the huge spaceship (like the one on the cover of the book)! The instructions are well done and are clear. If you have lots of LEGOs, you most likely have all the pieces that you need to build these designs.

Overall, I was really disappointed with this book. There were so many ships in this book that I wanted to make, but the designers did not provide their instructions. The designs that were provided were clearly written but were very simple. I can see the pictures are great inspiration for people who want to build cool spaceships.

I give this book 2 out of 5 blocks.

The Essential Cake Boss by Buddy Valastro: Craft Book Review

Title: The Essential Cake Boss: A Condensed Edition of Baking with the Cake Boss
Author: Buddy Valastro
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: October 2013
Number of Pages: 192
Series: Stand Alone:
Reason for Discovery: GoodReads First Reads Program

I received this book through the GoodReads First Reads Program in exchange for an honest review.

From GoodReads:

Here are the essentials from Buddy Valastro’s instant classic, the New York Times bestselling Baking with the Cake Boss, in a condensed, more affordable paperback package with a dynamic, new design. Here are extensive explanations and step-by-step photos that show how you can bake—and decorate—just like the Boss! 

Everyone who works at Carlo’s Bake Shop gets an on-the-job education on how to bake like a pro. Now you can get that training in The Essential Cake Boss, a collection of Buddy’s recipes and techniques that are the building blocks of his show-stopping desserts. You’ll learn to work with baking and decorating equipment, bake perfectly moist cupcakes and cakes, and work magical effects with frosting and fondant. With Buddy’s inspiring enthusiasm and stories from the bake shop told in his inimitable voice, The Essential Cake Boss provides you with the tools for making his most popular, signature creations. A unique chart lets you mix and match cake flavors, frosting, and liqueur syrup to create your own personal trademark cakes. Plenty of gorgeous, step-by-step instructional photos let you follow Buddy as he shows how to create his artistic flourishes and decorations. An incomparable dessert education, The Essential Cake Boss will become a beloved reference for aspiring and skilled bakers alike.

I enjoy watching cooking shows on television. In fact, I have watched several episodes of the Cake Boss, because I love to watch how cakes are put together. It is amazing what people can do with a bit of flour and some eggs. When I read this book, the word that kept popping into my mind was "comforting." Buddy Valastro takes a quiet approach with his readers and eases them into the idea of being a baker. He explains that baking is a skill that can be learned with lots of practice. He encourages his reads to start with cookies and then eventually graduating to cakes. As I read the book, I noticed that I started saying to myself that I can do this!

Although this book is a condensed version of Valastro's large book, The Essential Cake Boss feels complete and is surprisingly detailed. Valastro goes into great detail explaining what equipment a baker needs and why. In addition, he gives some great advice on baking in general. Something that made me quite happy is that there are a lot of pictures showing you what things are supposed to look like. The large numbers of pictures keep the number of written instructions limited, so none of the recipes look too intimidating.

This book contains five cookie recipes, eight cake recipes (and additional recipes that build on these eight foundational cakes), and 10 frosting and fillings recipes. Additionally, Valastro shows the reader how to several different types of cake toppers (predominately flowers).

My skill set does not include cooking; however, this book gives me the courage to make some cookies and maybe attempt a cake for the upcoming holiday season.

I give this book 4 out of 5 cakes.

Ocean Breezes by Sheryl Thies: Craft Book Review

Title: Ocean Breezes: Knitted Scarves Inspired by the Sea
Author: Sheryl Thies
Publisher: Martingale & Company
Publication Date: 2007
Number of Pages: 80
Series: Stand Alone
Reason for Discovery: Cruising the knitting books online

Initial Impressions: This book is really pretty. I actually want to knit most of these patterns. Why haven't I heard of this designer before? The patterns are all unique and pretty. I want them all.

The Details: This book contains 25 patterns: 21 scarves, 1 cowl, and 3 shawls. There is one color work scarf. The rest of the patterns rely on texture or lace. These patterns range in difficulty from beginner to more advanced. As an added bonus, at least three of the patterns would work for more "manly men." There are even a few more that I could see knitting for men that I know. This book uses a range of yarns; however, these are yarns that you are going to find in your friendly yarn store, not your big box store.

Final Impressions: I love this book. There is a ton of variety in the patterns, and I know I wouldn't get bored, if I decided to knit every pattern in this book. There is a pattern for everyone in this book. There are scarves for the more adventurous to the more conservative of your friends and family.

I give this book 5 out of 5 waves.

Knitted New Scarves by Lynne Barr: Craft Book Review

Title: Knitting New Scarves: 27 Distinctly Modern Designs
Designer: Lynne Barr
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang Publication Date: September 2007
Number of Pages: 144

First Impressions: The patterns look so sleek and sophisticated in this book. I am noticing lots of how-to pictures throughout the book. I wonder, if this means that everything is super complicated.

The Details: This book contains 27 scarves. Although the author states that the book contains a range of skill levels, the scarves are for the adventurous, advanced beginner and beyond for the most part. The scarves take advantage of texture-based stitches and patterns to make them visually interesting. Many of the patterns rely on the knitter knitting stitches out of order or arranging the stitches on multiple double-pointed needles. Looking through the patterns, these scarves have a bit of a more feminine flavor to them; however, they could be made to look more stereotypically masculine with the right color choices.

Final Impressions: These scarves are gorgeous. They look like they should be in a museum, not on a person. Although I want to wear almost all of them, I am concerned that they all look fiddly to knit. If you love to knit scarves and like to try new techniques, this is the book for you.

4 out of 5 balls of yarn

 

Knit Scarves! by Candi Jensen: Craft Book Review

Knit Scarves!: 16 Cool Patterns to Keep You Warm by Candi Jensen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First Impressions: There are so many different types of scarves in this book. They are so pretty and colorful. The yarns being used in the book won't break the budget!

The Details: This book contains 16 very different types of scarves. Techniques range from simple garter stitch and dropped stitches to cables and fair isle. Almost every single scarf showcases a different techniques, so the book grows with your knitting skill base. As a bonus, the book reviews almost every single technique you need to be able to do, so you can just take this book with you (and not ten extra technique books). Although there are a few stereotypical feminine scarves, most of them can be made for either a man or a woman (or a child). For most of the scarves, the designer also recommends different yarns to try, so you get different looks with the same pattern. The yarns are even knitted up using the pattern, so you can get idea of what the scarves would look like.

Final Impressions: This is a great book. I have made a few scarves from this book (Feather and Fan and A Touch of Fur), and they have turned out lovely. This is a great book to give to a beginner or to a more experienced knitter. There are so many techniques in this book that I guarantee you that your knitter probably hasn't made every single type of scarf in this book. As an added bonus, the book showcases a range of yarns for the scarves and then even suggests alternative yarns to try too.

This little book might look silly, because it is shaped like a scarf; however, it is one of my favorites. Unlike other pattern books that sell you on a lifestyle (yes, I want to live in a Rowan pattern book), this book has at least one (if not many) scarves that you can wear in your daily life. The designer also wrote patterns that you can follow easily, so you can start wearing that scarf in your daily life sooner rather than later.

Publication Date: 2004 (a re-release may be coming, because two books in this "series" have been re-released with new yarn recommendations)