As a finishing touch for all your handmade garments or a great pick-me-up for a vintage find, these lovely blooms are the perfect way to use up scraps of yarn or try out interesting new yarns.Breeze through this gorgeous collection featuring a colorful palette of simple spiraling roses, saucer-sized poppies, delicate lilacs, an assortment of vegetables, and more. All are shown full-size and in scale and is complete with stitched leaves and embroidered stems. Each flower pattern has full instructions, yarn requirements, and a suggested skill level. An additional section serves as a refresher course with basic techniques and provides inspiration for embellishing your finished flowers with beads, buttons, and sequins. You can also learn how to use the flowers in a range of fun projects, from customizing clothing and accessories, to decorating gift-wrapped packages.This book will inspire all knitters and crocheters to pick up their needles and start creating their own beautiful blooms.

    With twenty original patterns for gorgeous lace shawls, delicate camisoles, sweaters, hats, scarves, and socks, Wendy D. Johnson provides thorough instruction on the best lace techniques.At last - gorgeous lace projects that are not only sumptuous, but designed for your everyday life.

    This book contains hundreds of ideas and instructions for using knitted appliques, borders, cords, embroidery, and enhancements such as fringes, tassels, pom-poms, and ties. Step-by-step instructions, line drawings, and charts present more than 350 patterns for all types of embellishments. A special section includes techniques on how to incorporate these patterns into projects. Photographs provide guidance and inspiration to novices and experts.

    Part pattern collection, part resource book Ysolda shares all of her tips for successful sweaters that perfectly fit your body. Each of the seven inspiring designs is modelled by Ysolda herself and by her friend Amanda Allen, showing the garment in two different sizes and helping you envision how each design will look on your own shape. 15-17 sizes are included in each pattern, ranging from a 28-60 finished bust. With so many sizes to pick from, and guidance within each pattern on how to customise the fit, it should be easy to get a great result. The extensive reference section will equip you with all of the tools you need to achieve a perfect one.

    They knit while traveling or commuting, while waiting for their kids, while socializing. Times like these call for projects that are easily transportable and have stitch patterns that are simple to memorize. Véronik Avery has created 30 such projects for Knitting 24/7, a collection of stylish clothing and accessories that make use of those “in-between” times when we’re busy, yet our hands are free. Ranging from sweaters, scarves, and shrugs to hats and mitts, the projects represent both what women want to wear and what they actually have time to knit. The book’s gorgeous color photographs capture women in a range of settings—a morning at work, a dinner with friends, a relaxing weekend afternoon—evoking the time of day when each wardrobe item might be worn.

    A rundown on equipment introduces the drop spindle, supported spindle, niddy-noddy, McMorran balance, and yarn meter, while the following sections include choosing wool and other fibers, presenting knitting patterns suitable for handspun yarn, and in-depth profiles of real urban spinners. For crafters who want to experiment with spinning but don't want to sacrifice too much of their knitting time, there are lots of ideas for jazzing up a thrift-store cardigan with handspun trim or knitting a boatneck pullover in a combination of commercial and handspun yarns. Methods for incorporating beads and threads into yarn and a technique for dyeing yarn in the dishwasher are also featured.

    The method is simple and magical — knit the project large and loose, wash it in hot water, and see it transformed into a soft and cozy garment or accessory. Kathleen Taylor encourages you to explore the possibilities of felted knitting with 25 spectacular projects that include mittens, slippers, hats, bags, stuffed animals, and more. Embellish your life with unique and stylishly comfortable creations.

      Today's avid, busy knitters love small patterns that knit up in a day or a weekend—and Stephanie Dosen’s clever knits fill the bill. Right now, knitters also love animal-themed knits, and they can’t seem to get enough of Stephanie’s delicately beautiful patterns that incorporate deer, fox, owl, and other woodland themes (plus pretty flowers and vines) and look like nothing else on the market.   Here are 20 cute, contemporary projects to knit—including all the quick-to-make favorites—hats, scarves, wristlets, bags, wraps, and mitts. Traditional, straightforward stitches combine with wonderful yarns and clever patterns to produce accessories with an expensive boutique look.

    Presented in an easy-to-use format arranged by topic and cross-referenced, so you can dip in and out as needed for advice, this book offers hundreds of answers, fixes, insider tips, and secrets to help you along the way. Divided into sections that cover a multitude of topics such as: choosing the right hook for you, putting gauge measurements to work, fool-proof ways of turning, quick fixes for uneven edges, shaping with increases and decreases, how to make neat corners, marking essentials, dealing with yarn ends, choosing the right seam and even how to look after crochet garments, 200 Crochet Tips, Techniques & Trade Secrets contains a wealth of technical knowledge and handy tips. Aimed at all crocheters, from the beginner to the more experienced, this book is a valuable addition to any craft library.

    It forms beautiful crinkly ridges, which are handsome in themselves...I like to think that the very first knitter, doodling with sticks and sinews at the sunny entrance to his cave, or peering at his knitting by the flickering firelight, doodled with, or peered at, Garter stitch; the bread and cheese of knitting, the basic stitch; surely the prototype

    The motifs and patterns are spare and graphic, yet softened with organic shapes and imagery drawn from nature. The result is embroidery that evokes a personal feel and conjures a sense of nostalgia. The task of picking just the right palette for an embroidery project can be overwhelming to beginners and experienced stitchers alike. But when you take away that challenge, a whole world of texture and style becomes available. Here Japanese designer Yumiko Higuchi presents embroidery motifs to be stitched using just one or two colors--creating patterns and designs that are more evocative for their form than for a play of colors. Each embroidery design is paired with a simple craft project, transforming the stitched fabric into a functional object, including pouches, pillows, aprons, and more. With beautiful photographs, clear step-by-step instructions, and detailed diagrams, Zakka Embroidery will be an inspiring guide for those new to embroidery and a delightful experience for those experienced with needle and thread.

    Quilting patterns by renowned designer Kaffe Fassett--all innovative and artfully arranged, with a wealth of variations.

    Whether struggling to center the clay or attach a handle with precision, potters of all levels crave advice and answers, and world-renowned ceramicist and YouTube sensation Simon Leach has plenty to give. In Simon Leach’s Pottery Handbook—a book-and-DVD package—he presents clear tutorials and loads of original instruction on all of the core techniques, from studio setup to basic throwing, to applying appendages, trimming, glazing, and firing. For each technique, detailed step-by-step photography captures the subtle, intricate movements that typically fly by too fast to be learned when watching a video lesson; callouts then lead readers to the relevant video on the DVD so they can see the technique demonstrated in real time—an ideal combination that makes learning from the master easy. Praise for Simon Leach's Pottery Handbook: “A definitive guide for every step of pottery making.” —Publishers Weekly “Third-generation potter Leach, with technical and photographic assistance from Bruce Dehnert and Jared Flood, capitalizes on his celebrity with an amazingly detailed, step-by-step text for all major processes in ceramics. The in-depth perspective starts with his directions for making simple tools (a wire tool and a sponge stick) and is bolstered by charts and information-packed sidebars (e.g., for removing air bubbles and troubleshooting your first pull). Every topic that novices must master is covered, such as working basic shapes (cylinder and variations dishes) trimming, decorating and glazing, and firing.” —Booklist  “This book has some of the most gorgeous photography I've seen…” —Susan B. Anderson blog “Among how-to books, this volume stands out. This gem is as carefully honed as the skills it seeks to share.” —American Craft “For those of us who learn best with a combo of text and demonstrations, Simon Leach’s new book is the perfect fit.” —Ceramics Monthly

    With 75 original stitch designs to choose from, using color and texture to create stunning zig-zags, ripples, and waves, there is plenty here to appeal to every crocheter. Each design has a clear written pattern, an easy-to-follow chart, and a color variation to try out. The designs range from simple to more advanced patterns and also include ripple stitches worked in the round for unusual and eye-catching projects. It even includes five great projects as inspiration for how some of the designs could go together.

    Anyone. Stop thinking. Stop being afraid. Stop sweating, you’ll get the hook all damp. Yes, with the help of the Chicks with Sticks, anyone can learn to crochet in just a weekend—and by Sunday night, beginners will know what they’re doing and have the confidence to do it. Advanced beginners (the ones who have already made an afghan square) will have fresh, fashion-forward projects to wear around town. First up is an introductory section on tools and materials. Then the Chicks present a series of lessons that each introduce a new skill and patterns that help readers learn and master it before moving on. The more than 30 projects range from cool belts to stunning scarves, from felted bags to stylish wraps and sweaters. Throughout, the Chicks with Sticks are standing by with quips and anecdotes, support and sisterhood. Learning to crochet has never been so entertaining . . . and so empowering!