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

I love the big city knits book, and made several projects from it: marilyn jacket, karate sweater, diamond scarf, the fingerless gloves, the pilot hat, and the hat with the buttons to name a few. I have had a hard time finding twinkle yarn. The stores in Boston seem to carry small stock of it. I used "burly spun" yarn for the two sweaters i made from the other book, and "blizzard" yarn for the diamond scarf, since twinkle is scarce to find. And alot of websites that offer the twinkle yarn are often backordered.the marilyn jacket i get tons of compliments on. i used burly spun yarn for it, and it came out beatiful, but is prob a bit more scratchy than twinkle yarn would have been.i gave the pilot hat away as a gift. i used the baby pink to knit it and white buttons. (the large twinkle buttons don't come in all colors, so make sure you check before starting your pattern). And the large twinkle buttons are quite pricey, i think they were like at least $5-$7 ea.also, finding the large gauge needles isn't always that easy. luckily i have built a pretty good collection. but it wasn't easy. for the circular ones i have some of the turbo metal ones with the plastic tubing, and also have the cheapo susan bates ones. for non circular, i have both the cheapo plastic susan bates and also some nice wood ones i won from the twinkle contest. the susan bates circular needles are nice and light, however, the plastic connector seems to come unglued. i guess you can't ask for more since they ARE inexpensive.i like how chia indicated clearly that sizes should be taken based on measured size, not finished size of project. it makes the sizing much clearer.one comment that they could work on would be to have more pictures of the finished product, from more angles on and off the models. and it would be nicer if the picture alongside the pattern was blown up a bit larger.

I love this book. Finally, cool knitting without needless complications. I've been knitting for a very long time, but don't have the time for very complicated patterns or very fine wool -life and my other crafts get in the way. So although I buy VK and IK, I actually use very little of their patterns, as often they are SO complicated - and sometimes, it just seems like needless technicalities for not much effect.The photos are also very stylish - think Elle or MarieClaire. There are some errors, like ALL my other knitting books. These can be downloaded from classic elite's site.One thing I've noticed from these reviews - a lot of people don't seem to have looked at the book properly. I had the same reaction when I first opened it and looked at the patterns and the knitted measurements - tiny! But in her intro she gives the range of sizes, which go up to a 38 bust, and states that one has to go by the size one wants, not by the knitted meaurements, as these sweaters are meant to stretch to fit - thus reducing the bulk of thick yarn. (In fact, when I knit rowan patterns for bulky yarn, I usually go down at least one size to get the same effect).I think this book has had a lot of needless criticism. Sure, it has mistakes and limited range of sizes. Very few books don't. But this one seems to have provoked more than it's fair share, and I wonder why.I've almost finished the hoody. I first made it in the large, but had to frog it as it was too big - although I am a 38..... the construction is so cool, and there's hardly any sweing up to do - you gotta love that.

Let's get directly to the point. Twinkle's Big City Knits is not for everybody but then again neither is Neiman Marcus, Barney's, Banana Republic, Anthropologie or the Gap. Let's get real people. The knits in this book are clearly geared toward the smaller knitter. And that is okay. There are knitters who are smaller. And by the way, fashion models are suppose to be skinny. They are a sample size and samples are a size 2. This woman is a clothes designer who is probably used to working with sample size and her clothes are sized for 0 to 12. If you read Vogue and Elle, these sizes aren't that shocking. By the way, clunky knits like the one's in this book, look better on thinner girls. Larger women would not want to add that much bulk.Now that we've got that at the way, let's talk about the book. The book design is very nice, the sweaters are very pretty. The sizing however is not typical of what is usually shown in knitting books and is therefore confusing. I believe Wenlan is giving measurements for blocking but I found this method confusing.I haven't tried knitting anything yet but I've got a couple marked for my daughters and I might try resizing one for myself but I'd go for a less bulky yarn.

I was so excited when I got this book, the sweaters look great and they are nice and chunky, knit up quick and are more fashion forward than most patterns you see out there. When I picked a pattern (the city vest) and started to attepmt it, I realized that the simple-seeming pattern was confusing and badly written. I had to start over three times before finally re-writing it so I could figure it out. It seems that some people have had similar experiences with this book and I'd like to point out that you can find some pattern corrections through the classic elite website (classiceliteyarns.com), its called "big city knits errata" I think. After looking at that, and going into my next patterns expecting to encounter confusing and badly written instructions, it was a bit easier and I've now succesfully made a couple more things from this book. I still love the designs!

There is a great variety of patterns in the book - cardigans, wraps, shrugs, hats etc. and they all have some interesting stitch patterns that make them a bit different than the usual sweaters.I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were many designs that I want to make. Most of them call for chunky yarn so hopefully they will be quick to do up.The only reason I have given this book 4 stars and not 5 is because I actually haven't made anything out of it yet so I can't say how easy the patterns are to follow.

I was initially really pleased with the book because they images of the jumpers are amazing!! I think it's nice to see the chunky wool look so fashionable. TBH I think my skills are not good enough for this yet so I am leaving it on the shelf till I am more confident I can achieve the looks. Given it is expensive to make them it's a shame to get it wrong!I think its maybe a little bit difficult to follow the instructions but I am not giving up I will pick the book up when I am more advanced. Would recommend to those who are confident in different stitches and who want something a bit different though.

I was so excited about this book, it featured the exact pattern I wanted to knit. The whole book is really beautiful with lovely designs, but I WISH the designer or publishers had put on the cover that the patterns are only for small-busted women. I'm not even huge coming in at size 10-12 in the UK, but the largest bust size in this book is 87cm! It seems most garments are size XXS-S. I never would have bought it and I think the book should clearly state this for customers. What a disappointment - I really don't have the time or inclination to alter the patterns ...

Even better than the dressmaking book.

ok not what I expected

Ich habe schon 2 Bücher von Wenlan Chia und bin auch vom dritten echt begeistert.Die Modelle sind alle modern und auch sehr einfach zu arbeiten.Dadurch dass hauptsächlich sehr dicke Wolle verwendet wird, braucht man auch nicht lange, bis ein Modell fertig ist.Wenn man ein Buch mit schöner Herbst-Winter-Mode sucht, ist man bei diesem sicher nicht schlecht gewickelt.Allerdings muss man dazu sagen, dass die Anleitungen in Englisch geschrieben sind. Man sollte sich also ein wenig auskennen oder sich eine Liste mit den Übersetzung dazu legen, dann sollte es auch kein Problem sein.Mein persönlicher Favorit ist die Twiggy-Tunic, die ich mir in einem schönen dezenten Orange gestrickt habe.Ich trage sie wie eine Jacke über meiner Kleidung, mit Vorliebe bei Spaziergängen! :)