It's that time of the year when one is frantically looking for the perfect Christmas presents for the people in our lives. As it happened, the nice people at Collins & Brown asked me if I'd like to review a few craft books for them. I thought it be perfect from the perspective of giving my readers some potential gift ideas for their crafty friends whilst learning a few things myself. Having recently taken up knitting, the two beginners knitting books I'll be reviewing have been invaluable. The Mollie Makes Christmas book and Jane Foster's Fun with Fabric are brilliant for decorating your home for the holiday season.
First up I had a good read through First Knits by Luise Roberts and Kate Haxell. Being a complete beginner myself, this book provided me with step by step instructions with photos on the basic stitches, simple projects to get started on and useful pointers. Once I've completed my chunky scarf project, I think I'll make a fluffy little soft toy rabbit from this book.
Fun & Funky Knitting by Emma King is another great resource for a beginner to intermediate knitter. That said, I think it has plenty of great and novel ideas for more advanced knitters too. I'm looking forward to trying more projects from this book once I've gained some confidence with knitting. I thought the 'Mulberry' satchel bag project and the 'Reef' purse project were truly funky and fashionable and quite likely to be my next knitting projects!
The other two books I chose were Mollie Makes Christmas and Fun with Fabrics. I think both make excellent Christmas presents for a creative person. The Mollie Makes Christmas book includes easy and fun projects using wool, paper, felt and fabric. Techniques used include knitting, crochet, felting and paper craft. The book for projects for a whole range of crafting abilities including making your own paper Christmas tree as well as making your own stamps! I'm looking forward to making a little Santa tote bag as a pressie. Having read through the christmas tree decorations project, I really want to learnt needle tip felting.
The most fun of all was definitely Jane Foster's Fun with Fabric. It is quirky, bright and colourful with really simple projects. I have a *huge* Cath Kidston box bag stuffed to the brim with fabric collected/bought over the years which are crying out to be used in creative ways. The book also contains quirky templates to help you get started on your fabric adventures.
I hope you check out these fabulous books as they make great Christmas presents. Ann x
P.S. I've cancelled the giveaway as I'm currently in and out of hospital and unlikely to be able to post them out for a while.
P.S. I've cancelled the giveaway as I'm currently in and out of hospital and unlikely to be able to post them out for a while.
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