Twinkle's Big City Knits: 31 Chunky-Chic Designs by Wenlan Chia

Twinkle's Big City Knits: 31 Chunky-Chic Designs by Wenlan Chia
Originally uploaded by annethelibrarian.

This gorgeous book of knitting patterns for chunky yarns is a well-designed treat. The pages are thick and the photographs lush. Being a sucker for stupid glossy fashion magazines (I know, I know, they're often misogynist, promote consumer culture and bad body image, and have about a thousand other things wrong with them, despite all that I still like to look at them), I can see that this book has many similar design elements/photographic choices, but it's so much better!

For one, there are the knitting patterns, which are not at all intimidating (love, love, LOVE the amount of white space on the instruction pages), look fabulously not-homemade (making things yourself is awesome, but things that look homemade are often less fun to wear than they were to make - HANDmade is an entirely different term with altogether different implications), and probably knit up in record time given the thickness of the yarns used.

For two, there are photos of the most adorable french bulldog you've ever seen (not counting our half-frenchie half-boston terrier, Logan) throughout the book and not once is it made to wear a silly piece of clothing you know just drives it nuts.

Despite the fact that the models pictured are typically skeletal, many of the actual patterns are for items that just about anyone can wear. Who doesn't need another cardigan, and is it possible for a scarf to look bad on any particular body type?

I was about to be annoyed by the fact that all the patterns are designed to be knit with yarns by Twinkle Handknit Yarns (the author founded the company) , which from the list of stores in the back of the book, may not be available in my immediate geographic area. However, the author has included a helpful note suggesting other yarns that work well as substitutes for her own. Hooray for that!

I'm very excited to try one of these patterns (the Karate Sweater looks delish and though I've not yet knit a cardigan, I think I could do it). If it goes well, this book will definitely make my list of must-own knitting books.